AGE NINE CAN BE SO FINE!!!

...remembering how precious you were years prior, as well

MORE RECENTLY, THERE ARE THESE EXAMPLES OF EXEMPLARY BROTHERLY LOVE!!!!!

...and we hope your special day is just awesome !!

IF I SAY "BY THE WAY" on 2-5-2019, THERE'S A REASON !

By the way...

...of course, we must add a touch of memory lane, as well!!

SOME "OTHER" SHADOWS TO CONSIDER, AS WELL

The Shadow on the Stone

BY THOMAS HARDY

I went by the Druid stone

That broods in the garden white and lone,

And I stopped and looked at the shifting shadows

That at some moments fall thereon

From the tree hard by with a rhythmic swing,

And they shaped in my imagining

To the shade that a well-known head and shoulders

Threw there when she was gardening…

I thought her behind my back,

Yea, her I long had learned to lack,

And I said: ‘I am sure you are standing behind me,

Though how do you get into this old track?’

And there was no sound but the fall of a leaf

As a sad response; and to keep down grief

I would not turn my head to discover

That there was nothing in my belief.

Yet I wanted to look and see

That nobody stood at the back of me;

But I thought once more: ‘Nay, I’ll not un-vision

A shape which, somehow, there may be'.

So I went on softly from the glade,

And left her behind me throwing her shade,

As she were indeed an apparition—

My head unturned

(Lest my dream should fade)…

WHY IS "2" SO SPECIAL?

Well, because of you,

(John Porter)!!

“The soul is healed by being with children.” 

 — Fyodor Dostoyevsky

“Children see magic because they look for it.”

  — Christopher Moore, writer

Stay Warm! We love you!!

A VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHOUT-OUT TO ....

*Lara Elisabeth*

Family has always been your first priority...

then and now

...of course, your biggest present was new baby Jude Patrick!

Enjoy your day...though  brand-new baby makes it very busy!!!

XOX,

Mom, Dad, Rich (and Kaitlyn),

Ryan (and Alison), and Robb

...and how could we ever forget your 

very first birthday with Grandpa!