Dear OLD Dad

We went up to Luck (and back) today to celebrate my dad's 85th birthday. While he doesn't technically hit the milestone until Tuesday, it's just easier, obviously, to get together on the weekend.

Strange how two months ago, we weren't sure from one day to the next if Dad was going to make it. Today, he looked so healthy, you'd never know it was touch and go not that long ago. Just a testament to the power of love, prayers and, yes, the right drugs. Thankfully!

He was in good spirits today as 7 of his 8 children (all except my sister in Texas), 6 grandchildren, 1 great-grandchild, 4 of his siblings and still more gathered in his honor.

Part of our entertainment was a special Bingo game we called LEROY. Instead of numbers, we had words under each letter that started with that letter and portrayed something about Dad's life. For example, under the L, we had Lone Spruce (his old CB handle) and under the O we had October 23rd. The R's were his 8 children, naturally.

The idea was my sister Romey's. I just came up with some of the phrases and designed the "cards". Good teamwork!

If you got Bingo, er, LeRoy, you had to yell out "LeRoy!" too. Well of course, we let the birthday boy win!

Had good food and cake, too! We held this party up the road from my parents' place at Skonewood. We used their fellowship hall and that seated us all perfectly... with plenty of chairs to move from table to table and visit. It was great to see everyone and always great to see generations bonding.

Can't wait to do it again next year!