Grace's Sixth Birthday Party - Happy Birthday Grace Catherine

 

 Dan insisted I come, even with my boot. The yellow egg drop soup is actually a cup of Coors Light.

 
 I asked that the driveway be cleared for when I pulled up.

"Hello Mr Carter," I said. I was trying to remember his name and did by the time I got there. It's really Mr Carter Bump Bump.

What a busy street! You shoulda seen the finagling as everyone left.

Mine's getting busy right now. My next door neighbor, who's voting for Gary Johnson, libertarian, will probly BBQ and swim.

I'm not allowed to swim, said Bruce Brushkoff, my foot man.




After the pizza, let's gather round the dining room table for cake n ice cream. 

 

 Crowd shots please!

 Newborn baby. Our family vegetarian baby will be born in January. Jade, here's some names you can choose from...these were kids - M and F - at the party

Evan, Austin, DaVessa, Chloe, Seamus, Jackson, Hunter, Kieran...that's all I can remember. Plus two Grace's.

Hmmm. I wonder how she liked my poem. Amazingly, her fish Esmeralda is still alive. 

 She loved playing with the Animal Clinic. Each door was locked and she unlocked em with a key.

 The Booted One prepares to eat Vanilla Ice Cream, cleverly served in a cupcake cup.  Alice and I shared a story about Bassett's Ice Cream at the Reading Terminal and about Nilla Wafers.

ai

 Evan recently learned to walk. Are they playing ping pong?  Or is this the Train Table that draws all comers.

 Nicole's big bro Sean Toohey, wife Alice and Ayla Shannon, 15 mos. Ayla is a family name from Alice's mom in Maine, where she and the baby visited for two months.

 The kids' parking lot.

The bouncer. Dan pumped it up.

 Aunt Kat looked lovely. She works two days a week at the beauty salon after suffering a mishap. If you look closely at the picture, it looks like she's carrying a little puppet of a man.

 The birthday girl.

Crowd shots.

 The boot and I are eating three things - pizza, fresh fruit and a glass of Coors Light. Barbara - aka Mom-Mom - served it to me. Her family - The Youngs - were here. Tom flew up with his sister Kat from Florida. Ah, Florida, of the sweet-smelling air. As kids we flew there every winter.

ou

 Hello Barb and fun-luvin children.

Will laboriously walk upstairs in my boot and send down the b'day poem. I also stuck a $10 bill in the Grace envelope.  Orig'ly I wanted to put in $6 for Grace, $3 for Max, and $2 for baby Ayla.

Ruthie, must you tell every little thing?

Why not? Okay.... here goes.... Scott has NINETY FUCKING CENTS off gas at the Giant and I'm heading there shortly.

TO GRACE CATHERINE ON HER BIRTHDAY

And my son Daniel Paul

brought with his wife Nicole

a baby girl upon this land.

And her name, they announced,

shall be Grace.

Grace Catherine. With a C

of course.

Wherever I am, I can see her.

Just close your eyes and there

she is on her high bed in the

land of Pennsylvania

she is tired and rests a

moment. Thinking. Reflecting.

What is the meaning of the

world. What part do I have to play?

Mommy is a teacher. Dada a funster.

Little Brother Max is a brown-eyed

terror with those eat-me-up arms that know

exactly what to do with a train

or a fire engine or Olympic legs

that tear across the room faster

than dropping a Cheerio on

the floor.

She looks around her room. When

she’s older she’ll have other rooms

of her own, but none so beautiful

as this. Princess posters, a window

where she can view the vast expanse

of Argyle Road and the sky above.

My eyes are closed. I see Grace

Catherine in a long green field

holding her arms up to the sky.

Flowers grow all around, purple

pansies, gold daylilies, white daisies.

Hallelujah, she calls to the

heavens, hallelujah, thanks for

making me be born.