March 25th

March is a huge birthday month for us. Phil & I both have March birthdays. His Grandma's birthday was about a week before his. I had a great-great aunt whose birthday was just before mine. My aunt's birthday is March 20th (oops, I forgot! Happy Birthday Aunt Carol!). But March 25th is a remembrance day now. My mom's Aunty Edna was born on March 25th in 1910. On March 25th 1960, my brother Steve was born. Aunty Edna called him her "Golden Birthday Boy" because he came on her 50th birthday! I think it was as hard on her as it was for my grandparents when Steve died in 1978. It's been several years since Aunty Edna passed away now. But, the birthday of someone who has passed seems a much brighter day than the remembrance of the day they died. It's a day to really reflect on the life that God gave them.

Today as Natalie was bouncing around, I told her she reminded me of her Uncle Steve. My niece Becky also has some of those traits. Becky has no fear, like Steve. She can be a total ham like Steve was. Yet, quiet Bethany is the one who looks so much like him, and has the gift of art that he had. As far as I know, no one in our immediate family besides Steve could draw. I mean, beyond stick figures. I tried. I don't know that Greg (my big brother) ever drew at all. But, Steve could draw well. It's really interesting to see the things that made him special reflected in the "next generation."

I guess in these pictures you can't see the resemblance, but I don't have any of Steve as a teenager. You can see that we (and they, in the before I was born picture) were all SKINNY back then! LOL! For the record, this was the first and last of Steve's saxophone playing days. He later moved onto the drums. Greg, however, is a very good guitar player. To his credit, I must say he no longer wears the boots, and doesn't often perform with his pj's on. At least not in public!