Who Can Really Say?

Well now, where were we. Oh, right.

Being now a bit over 50 years and one week old, I need to wrap up my birthday story. I can't do it justice, which is part of the reason for why it's taken so long to finish this.

I always loved the fact that within a few weeks of the end of the school year I'd have a birthday. To me, nothing beat not having to go to school on your birthday. So I take the day off if I can, and I could on the first. Friday morning, my housemates C&K sat me down around mid-day and gave me some very nice gifts -- mostly grilling stuff like cookbooks and some sweet suede gloves for handling hot stuff, and a rotisserie to boot. Considering they get to eat what I cook, it was a smart call on their part. ;> But then I was asked to close my eyes and they made a sort of joke about whether the last gift would be a cat to join the newest member of the family, something that I'd strongly hinted asserted was not on my list.

I was stunned when they revealed my gift -- they presented me with my 1966 Schwinn Varsity 10 speed bike, which had languished untended in a succession of dusty basements for 25 years, but now fully restored and ready to ride. Wow! I had tears in my eyes. It was all cleaned up with new wheels and rubber, new cables and brake pads, but the derailleur, brakes, pedals, chain, seat, etc. were all the original. Wow again!

Back then (in '66) my brother Mike sublet part of his paper route to me -- I was too young to be a paper carrier directly -- and I needed a better bike to ride the hills, etc. But buying a 10 speed adult bike was not what 11 year olds did much, and I have to say it's one of the best consumer decisions I ever made. It's the last bike I ever bought, and it's a year and a half shy of 40 years ago that I bought it. Cost in 1966? $69.95 plus 3% sales tax, bringing the total to $72.05. I paid for it with money from the route, and I'm guessing it was 4 or 5 years later before I spent that much money on anything else. I put a couple of thousand miles on the bike before I got my drivers license at 17. No, it's not exactly my Rosebud, but man, it's sweet. The only downside is that we had to leave within the hour to drive up to C's parent's house in Westchester County, NY (about 2.5 hours away). Our bike rack won't fit my car, and the car the rack fits doesn't have A/C. Sigh.

I expected to spend the weekend of the 4th with her parents, who are also my very good friends. They have a great old home, part of it dating to the Revolution, and C's sister and two of her four kids would be there too -- a picnic/party was planned with the parent's "tennis group", a bunch of their friends I've met numerous times before -- on Saturday afternoon, poolside. I helped them get ready for the crowd a bit (which of course included tapping the keg), and offered to cook the beef tenderloin on their grill when I heard the blasphemy that they were planning on putting it in the oven. I was preparing the beef when the wheels fell off my concept of the party and the day. First, my sister-in-law poked her head around the kitchen door -- then my older brother Mike, then two nephews and my younger brother Rob, who travelled 5+ hours to be there. Uh-oh.

To make a too long story short, I was SURPRISED! And for the next two hours, at 15-20 minute intervals, and in no particular order, a dozen plus friends from NY showed up, plus my sister Kathy and her two kids, and finally, my college roomate Glenn and spouse arrived from Fairfax, VA(!) only to be shortlty joined by my good friend from work, Steve and his oft-mentioned wife who I'd never had the chance to meet. I was flabbergasted. As they say, a good time was had by all -- the food was great (thanks to Rob taking over the grilling chores) but the company was better.

It would be enough, I suppose, to be flattered by seeing so many travel so far to celebrate my 50th. But what really really made the day for me was this -- so many of these folks had never met each other before, and to a one, each of them have told me since how much they enjoyed the others -- how wonderful C's parents were -- how nice it was to finally meet the family they'd previously only heard of from me -- what great friends I have in Glenn and Steve, and on and on.

We drank and drunk, and somehow I avoided being tossed in the pool although I made sure the digital camera stayed out of my pocket just in case. But what a wonderful day. And thanks to digital photography I've got probably close to 200 pics of it, instead of a few dozen, not counting the video clips.

In The End it's said, the love you take is equal to the love you make. Well maybe so, but at this point in my life, I've gotta wonder if there isn't a serious problem with the count.