Sunday was Dad's birthday (Nov. 16). He would have been 85. This is the cake he "won" from Sam's Club in 2005. He got a free cake for his birthday. I think I wrote this before, but he practically ran back to the bakery to pick it up! He was so excited. He LOVED his birthday cakes. He would get such a big kick out of it. One of those endearing things about Dad. I like this picture because they look happy.

My friend, Kim, brought a card to me about remembering Dad and happy times. John came up and he, Susan and I went to the cemetery. We went out to eat and later we had cake--in honor of Dad.

Uncle Joe and Aunt Mary sent this message in an email:

We've been thinking of you all day today . . . the birthday of one really great man . . . your Dad, our Paul.

Just wanted you to know that we miss him, too, and hope that all is well with you.

We all miss you, Dad!

Love, Susie

Yesterday, Susan and I successfully cooked a turkey in the crock pot. It was a trial run for when John comes on Thanksgiving. My cousin, Theresa, invited us to her house again this year, but I wanted to stay home and do Thanksgiving at the house. It will just be me and Susan and John, but that's OK. That last Thanksgiving Mom and Dad cooked there were just the five of us. The house smelled good yesterday--it made me kind of emotional because it smelled just like Thanksgiving of years passed. Mom and Dad would both work on the turkey. Mom would make sweet potatoes or mashed potatoes, stuffing, asparagus--Dad would make a cranberry dish and the rolls. Mom would make pumpking pie! My favorite for many years. Mom and Dad, Granny, Aunt Opal, Aunt Bea and Uncle Check, Joe and Judy, Jeff and Jonna, John and myself. That was the usual lineup. Those were great times. Uncle Check would drop Bea and Opal off over at Granny's and Bea would give Granny a perm (Bea was a hairdresser). Check then would come to our house and watch football with Dad. After Granny's perm, they all came back over. They usually brought donuts or something. I will never forget Granny and her sisters, Opal and Bea, and Mom sitting at the kitchen table talking. Aunt Opal and Aunt Bea would always have jokes to tell and soon they were all laughing--sounding exactly the same! Mom definitely took after her mother's side of the family. Then there is the "Bratcher finger". Granny and her sisters were Bratchers and they all had this thing with their little finger on the right hand--it is double jointed or something and doesn't lay down flat unless you make it. Mom had it and I have it, too. They were so fun. I loved when they came. After dinner, we would gather around the dining room table and play "Blitz". Players have a three card hand and the aim is to collect cards in a single suit worth 31 points or as near as possible to that total. Uncle Check was a character and he enjoyed this game. Even Dad played, which was kind of rare!

I miss you Mom and Dad...and Granny, Aunt Opal, Aunt Bea and Uncle Check--I miss you all.

Love, Susie

I was thinking about some special memories of Dad. I remember having training wheels on a bike and him pushing me down the backyard. That backyard is so bumpy! He'd let go and I'd pedal and then fall over. At some point he took me to get a new bike. I guess I'd been riding one belonging to Joe or John. We went downtown and I can't remember where it was now, but he bought me a light blue girls 3 speed bike. I thought it was so cool because it had 3 speeds and you changed speeds in the right handle. I rode that bike a lot. Then later on when I wanted a bigger bike, we went to the Schwinn place in Bloomington and he bought me a 10 speed bike. Mom was with us then, I think. But I'm pretty sure it was just me and dad with the first one. That was neat.

To say that I loved listening to music as a kid is an understatement. I had this little record player, but I kept using Joe's stereo because it sounded better! One day Dad came home with a stereo just for me! It folded up like a suitcase. I don't know where he got it or anything--but he got it just for me. He knew how much I loved music. Then later on when I outgrew that one ( I had started listening to music on the "big" stereo in the living room)...he bought my first component stereo for me. It was Pioneer--turntable and receiver. I knew nothing about this kind of stuff, but he helped me. He even gave me the speakers that one of my uncles had made that were hooked up to the stereo downstairs. Wow! I had my on "real" stereo! I wore out many needles and he always helped me buy the right one and replace it. When I was using these old crappy headphones, he bought new ones for me. One time he took my turntable to some electronics guy down the street and when I said it still wasn't right (it was running too slow) he believed me and took it somewhere else. When I bought my first CD player component and new speakers, he was there with me to help me pick it out. So that was one thing we did together. Dad really appreciated good music and good sound and he wanted me to have a good system.

More on the music thing. Whenever there was a great musician on Johnny Carson, Dad would always have me come and watch it with him. A great guitarist or one time Buddy Rich was on there and we watched him. If Dad happened to find Elton John on TV somewhere and I didn't know about it, he'd come and get me. Dad liked classical music, too, and so I used to buy classical CDs for him. He had an acoustic guitar, but I never saw him play it much.

I miss you, Dad.

Love, Susie