TO THE MEN IN MY LIFE ~ HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

FATHER'S DAY!
Today is Father's Day. It happens every year around the same time. Most of the time, I send only my father a card, sometimes John gets one too as the father of my spawn! This year, I want to acknowledge all the men in my life. There is no order of preference. They all think they're the most important! The order is the legnth of time spent as part of my life.

DAD
My Dad, Bruce, is the absolute BEST Dad in the whole wide world! Of course my children would beg to differ, thinking their Dad (John) is the coolest Dad. It's a heated contest between the two of them! Anyway...Dad has been there through thick and thin. He loves me unconditionally. He loves me for who I am - even though that's not tough to do! He's 79 now, but still a young guy at heart. As you can see, he's very handsome and in "his day" was known to be quite the dancer and ladies man. My Mom won his heart though and they were married 51 years until she passed away last January. He's lost without her and although I'm the second most important girl in his life, I live 5 hours away. I try and call him at least 2-3 times a week and even though he's not a "phone person", he can talk to me for hours. Clearly, I AM his favorite daughter! HAPPY FATHER'S DAY DAD!

BRUCE
Bruce is my baby brother. Not really a baby, he just turned, well, I'm not telling you how old he is, because then I'd have to tell you how old I am! Bruce loves a good poker game and dabbles in the stock market. He's quite good at it too. My fondest??? memory of our childhood is helping him with the paper route. Gosh, those Sunday papers were heavy! Uphill both ways!

JOHN
BIG John, aka my hubby, is my best friend and the love of my life. We started dating when I was only 14! I know, What were my parents thinking??? Letting me date a stud like that at such a tender and naive age? He was only 16 at the time, so we were two kids infatuated by each other. It was a love-hate relationship at first. He didn't know how to "get a girl". His method of flirtation was to kick me (lightly) in the back as I was sitting on the stone wall during break at school (recess). I was soooo embarrassed! One thing led to another and we started dating. Problem was, he didn't have his license. His Mom had to drive us around on our dates! "Turn around Ma, I'm checking out her tonsils!" He's the father of our four spawn...er...I mean children! There isn't a day that goes by that I still feel the teenage love. Oh, all right! Who am I kidding? We all have our days when I feel like throwing him over board or he hasn't thought of pushing me off in the dinghy! But, all in all, it's been a great 34 years...37 if you count our dating/necking years. I think I'll keep him!

JOHN
My son, John, will be 30 in August. He's the handsome dude that gave me the Cuisinart Food Processor. He loves his mother! John took over the wholesale bakery when we sailed off and left it all behind. He's doing better than we ever did because he just concentrates on just cookies...thousands and thousands of cookies! He could make a lot more, but alas, he isn't married yet! I told him "Get a wife or a girlfriend and you can make TWICE the cookies!" He loves to travel with us, has a heart for animals especially his dawg Heidi and loves the outdoors. He was the only child I can claim is really mine since we had a home birth. And weighing in at a hefty 9 1/2 pounds, we weren't about to give him back!

BRAD
My second son, Brad, is 24. He's also single. He's just as handsome as his older brother, John. He loves his Mom too, but I don't hear from him as often. He works hard and lots of hours and he's ALWAYS running out of minutes on his cell phone! He's a great cook and has worked in some unusual restaurants. He used to go out with my husband John, hawking our baked goods through town. He was such a cute little kid carrying that big basket of goodies around. Everyone loved him on the route. He could make change like it was nobody's business! He was our "love child". The only one we planned for! Not that we didn't want each and every one of them, but back in those days, either we or the contraceptive companies weren't paying attention to detail! Anyway...he was our last since I had major complications after he was born. Brad! Call your mother!

DAVID
David is our oldest and first son-in-law. At 33, he THINKS he's also the most handsome. He's Erika's husband - the love of her life - and the father of two of our grandchildren, Zach and Girly. He's a great Daddy to those kids and we're blessed to have him as part of our bizarre family. Erika often says he's just a big kid at heart. He loves the outdoors and will often spend from sunup to sundown hiking one of the highest mountains in Vermont or NY or kayaking Lake Champlain.

JONATHAN
Jonathan is the second and youngest son-in-law. He's also David's brother, which means that our girls married brothers! He'll be 32 in a few weeks and KNOWS he's the most handsome. Jonathan is an amazing cabinetmaker. He took our old boat apart and made it into a thing of beauty. He loves to play poker and can be as competitive as I am in any card game! He loves to go biking and will often bike 25 miles or more at a time. He's also the best Daddy to Hannah and Ethan - two more adorable grandchildren.

Do you see a trend here? They all THINK they're the handsomest. Then they say they KNOW they're the best looking! I can't play favorites, so I tell them they're ALL handsome!

ZACH
Zach is our oldest grandson and at 9 years old, he's all boy! He's amazing with animals and has an obsession with bugs of all kinds. Moths are his specialty! We think he'll grow up to be an entomologist someday working for The National Geographic Society! He's a wiz with numbers and we jokingly say we'll take him to Vegas when he gets a little older!

ETHAN
Ethan is our youngest grandson. He's 6 now and he's a rough-and-tumble kinda kid. Look at that cute little face! You're thinking what an angel, right? He's so good natured but can be a little imp all at the same time! He's an amazing reader and has been reading bedtime stories to his sister for over a year now! Video games are his specialty and can give a video master some real competition!

So, that's it for the men in my life. There have been others that have come and gone...Oh, come on, they're just good friends! HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to all the fathers and hugs and kisses to the all the others! I LOVE YOU!