Toast Post

                                                                                

 

    Last night we had a birthday bonfire in honor of Tracy's May 3rd birthday. We held it at Britten and Luke's, where the pile of yard trimmings used by both our families had grown big enough to be Tracy worthy. He and Dillon used to make bonfires on Leisure Island that were probably visible to orbiting satellites. It was wonderful to hear former neighbors and some of Tracy's childhood friends share memories. But between roasting hotdogs and sharing memories, I gave the following toast:

    We are here today to celebrate Tracy’s birthday and share memories of him and I hope for many of those. But before we do that, I wanted to recognize our other children—Britten & Luke, Will & Emily. When our kids were little, our goals were simple, we wanted them not to kill each other and we wanted to survive parenthood with losing our sanity. But beyond that, our hopes for all of our children were that they would love and serve God, work hard, be responsible and considerate, and grow to be friends with one another. Britten and Will took to the work hard part early in life, Tracy took longer to get there, but then became a workaholic like his Dad. Despite their different personalities, our kids learned first to work together, then to become friends.

   They all love God, and Britten and Will married people who shared that faith. Our children did not meet our expectations for becoming responsible and considerate--they exceeded them! They are wonderful parents to our three amazing granddaughters. They take care of family, friends, sometimes even strangers, and do all the things that matter most to us. If Britten and Will did not become as social and outgoing as we had hoped, they at least had the good sense to marry people who were. Luke and Emily both place high value in family, and now that we all live in the same town, we gather often in each other’s homes. Even though I did not get my wish for a revival of parents arranging marriages for their children, we couldn’t be happier with the partners they chose for themselves.

   Together, they made even the pain of losing Tracy much easier in too many ways to tell in this brief time. So I’d like to propose a toast to our kids—by birth, by marriage, by Tracy’s choice, here or in heaven—to family!

I also want to recognize two other birthdays coming up in May—Dave Cano and Russell Lamb—we miss you.