Jul. 20, 2003 - 22:32 MDT

THE WONDERING JEW

Current Events

What I wanted to write tonight was a bit of family history - a little of which is known and the rest blank and must be deduced, inferred and sometimes guessed at. But time has caught up with me and I must do justice to it when it is written.

Then too, my head is full of today. Boring as it is to others, you need not look over my shoulder as I write, after all this is an entry in "my" secret diary.

In our extended as well as our nuclear family about the only days in the year that we can get together on the proper date is Christmas and Thanksgiving. All other special days are celebrated on a Saturday or Sunday near the proper date.

Friday, the 18th of July, is our youngest childs birthday. She and some of the women of the family quietly celebrated her actual birthday by going to a Castle in Colorado Springs, Colorado to a formal tea. They are all a great bunch of tea bags one might say -- if one is out of their slap reach. Judging from the glow on their return a good time was had by all.

Today the twentieth was the official family birthday party for daughter. She is forty years old now, well into a lively, active life which includes raising a 13 year old six foot male and an almost eleven year old girl and being a wife of a university professor.

We had the party in the party room of our complex as usual rather than a picnic in the park. We have done the park picnic a time or two, but soccer and stuff like that fills it on the weekend now.

There was much family activity early this morning, everybody pitching in to get the big room ready, a lot of the family came across the Metro Area to take part in the preparations.

Then came the event that thrills me to the core. Daughter had plenty of time to visit with her brothers and sister, time to visit with some of the cousins and hold a baby or two on her lap. She is vibrant in these situations and really lives it up when she comes to town.

In the middle of visiting we all managed to destroy a bunch of food, talking with our mouths full of course - the women holding a simultaneous cross conversation above the man talk going around the table. After appetites were sated the gaming began. Dirty Bingo was afoot in the room. What a laugh it was. The first part of the game was straight Bingo, but it didn't finish at the first Bingo. We kept the same cards and everytime someone had a Bingo they went to a table and chose a prize. Eventually the table emptied before everyone had every number covered. Then came the Dirty part. The secret was being smart enough to watch who picked what prize in the first go round. After the prize table was empty we turned our cards over and began again. Every time someone would Bingo they had the prerogative of taking a prize from some one who had it, some of the items changed hands several times. A hilarious time of banter and teasing took place. Eventually Time was called and the game was over.

There were three cameras going today, one digital and two film ones. With the Bingo over, the heavy visiting ensued. About evening time people began drifting away, homeward bound. Sadly it was over. Just before they all peeled out they helped pick up, clean up and the last thing they did was to bring all our stuff back from the party room. I spent some time putting stuff away and loading and starting the dishwasher.

There was still visiting going on after that while we enjoyed being with our Oregon family.

Out of the nineteen years daughter and hubby have been married, she has been in town to celebrate three of her birthdays. So this was the super grand occasion -- no over the hill stuff, black flower arrangements and shrouds for the guests. But an all out, fire in the hole, slam bang bunch of partying by us all. Non-alcoholic too. Amazing. We were, I think, totally high on being together once again.

In a private moment with daughter I said to her, "Now that you are forty years old, I think instead of calling you, "Baby Boo," I shall call you Boo. I think there was a tear in the corners of the eyes of both of us.

Everybody is in bed now and sleeping peacefully, and I - - I sit here and remember things. When she was little I used to tell her, "Oh, I would like to put you in the big pocket of my nice warm coat and carry you close to my heart all the time, even to work." All this said while she sat on my knee before I left for second shift work. Things like that pass in review, almost real. Some of the things I fondly remember are things that are her treasured memories also, which makes them better yet.

So life shall go on into the future but for now, we lived our grand Current Events . . . . . . .

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