The "Another Year Older!! Story"

It was an ordinary day.  Woke up a bit early to yet another birthday, MY OWN!  As I laid there in the dark, memories of the past 70+ years passed before my eyes!  Where has all the time gone?  As I tried to go back to sleep, all I could do was think back to the many years that I have lived in my life.  Fond memories began to drift in my head as my wife, Carol, lay still, enjoying the last hour or so of darkness before the light would break through the curtains and the cats would arrive at the bottom of the bed, waiting for me to arise and give them their breakfast.  Memories such as my first tricycle I would ride for hours on the pavement in the last block of North Queen Street, a block from the Lancaster Train Station; the many trips I took with my Grandpap to Roots Country Market and Auction where he would more than likely win a bid at the small animal auction and head home with a cardboard box of guinea pigs or a few white rats; the times the street in front of our house would flood and my Aunt Lois (just a  year older than me) would stop and we would play in the dirty water; the time I brought a pigeon with a broken wing home from Roots and my mom and I put a splint on it and it eventually escaped its cage and while trying to lasso it I fell off a fence and broke my arm; the time I took my first car, a 1953 Henry J, to my Uncle's house in nearby Strasburg so we could paint it and the excess spray covered the interior of his garage the bright orange that my car ended up; the very first time I tried out for a baseball team when I was 12 and was picked as the first baseman; the jacket I won when I played on the  baseball team that won Lancaster's New Era tournament; the time I first met the girl of my dreams who I would eventually marry and whom I took for a motorcycle ride that first date and got caught in a storm; Our beautiful wedding we shared together in 1967: our first home we bought together on Janet Ave. in Grandview Heights; our three wonderful children, Derek, Brynn and Paul "Tad" who were born while living at the home; our dream house on Harrington Drive that we never thought we would be fortunate enough to live in; the great experience I had attending school in the Manheim Township School District; and the chance to return to the district and teach there until my retirement; the many vacations to the Jersey Shore as well as the Caribbean my wife and I have been able to take with friends and relatives as well as by ourselves; and the retirement home we now live in at Woodcrest Villa.  We have been so lucky to have a great son-in-law, Dave, husband of Brynn, as well as a fantastic daughter-in-law, Barbara, wife of Derek, to go along with our two grand-daughters, Courtney and Camille, born to Brynn and Dave, and one grandson, Caden, born to Derek and Barb.  They all make our lives a joy and bring love and happiness to our family.   I have truly been blessed with so many fond memories in my lifetime!  My wish to you today, on my birthday, is that you too have the fortune to be blessed with as many wonderful experiences just as I have been blessed in my lifetime.  And finally, a big Thank You to my dear wife, Carol, for the love she has given me over our lifetime together.  I love her dearly!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.