Belated Happy Birthday, Mary!

Silly me! I let family interfere with my blogging. Hence, there was no splashy “Happy Birthday, Mary” headline on the 24th. Rebecca and Kevin traveled to Las Vegas to start the prelims, and then we returned together to Flagstaff on the day itself so that the whole family could be in on the celebration. Rachel and Steve are in the throes of relocating to Fort Collins, Colorado, and so I imagine that this may be the last nuclear reunion for awhile. I can think of no greater tribute to Mary’s life than her two daughters, a fact that became remarkably clear to me as we shared in the process of being family. Mary is a genuine teacher—not just the product of certification—and I reflected upon how many hundreds, thousands have been touched by her kindness and generosity. “As the twig is bent” so aptly defines Mary’s quarter-century of parenthood, and I am blessed to have been counted her significant other for almost four decades. Now that the hoopla is over, I shall return to a more normal routine which includes a lunch hour that is twice as long as it needs to be to fill with more unremarkable blogging.