Friday, January 28, 2011

Happy Birthday!

Cindy, Sarah, Kathy and Uncle Joe have birthdays at the end of January.

My own birthday is at the end of January. We make plans that fall by the wayside, myself included. I have planned to take cousin Kathy and her husband John to "the hills" to gamble for the afternoon, one day this weekend. Similar plans were made with Sarah. I pictured myself sitting in a bar in Aguillar with many cousins, a few of them new 3rd cousins, and enjoying the celebration of Uncle Joe's birthday.

Though the celebrations have not begun, I can see them already, a good time enjoyed by all.

The cousin most close to my own age is Cindy. Recently Cindy, Sarah and I went to Black Hawk on the casino bus. It was cold that night, about 5° all night. Sarah and Cindy played side by side on the slots. I played video poker. We had been there for about 5 hours when Sarah thought it might be a good time to check the return bus status. We had 5 minutes to catch the last bus of the night. At the same time Cindy hit a jackpot, so we had to cash out and get to the bus stop. There were not many gamblers out that night, so there was only one cash-out machine that was turned on. Our plan was for Sarah to go upstairs and redeem Cindy's winnings ticket for $160 and meet us on the street. Sarah made it but we were late and we missed the bus. We enjoyed the extra time. I had a nice nap on the bus ride back to Denver. 'You know when you fall asleep when everyone else is talking about random stuff, and when you wake up the conversation is still in full force? That is the absolute best sleep possible. The best part of the trip was hearing Sarah and Cindy laughing from across the casino floor.

Uncle Joe has been around for as longer than I can remember. He and Uncle Junior were Dad's hunting buddies. Dad would make trips to Colorado to hunt and we would get to hear the stories. Each time we would visit Mom's family in New Mexico and Colorado, we would visit Aunt Mary and Uncle Joe. Until then Uncle Joe was my uncle that hunted with my dad. Since then I have enjoyed more time with Uncle Joe and now see a man that has worked hard, is working hard for his family. I enjoyed the Falcons football game at the Academy, the story about how goat cheese is made, the story of the wine trade in the middle of the last century, and hearing the correct pronunciation of the city Pueblo. It seems to me that Uncle Joe can not go more than 5 minutes without a smile burst! He sets the mood.

My mother introduced me to my dad's cousin Kathy several years ago. On a visit to Colorado, Mom, armed with a phone number, on the spur of the moment, called Kathy. 15 minutes later, we were saying our hellos. Kathy and Dad were part of group of cousins that "hung out" together as teenagers. They called her "Little Sis."

It would be nice to be everywhere with everyone, but it is nice enough to be somewhere with someone.

Happy Birthday!

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