(Not So) Wordless Wednesday - Post 279: Randy's 70th Birthday Party

I'm posting family photographs from my collection on Wednesdays, but they aren't Wordless Wednesday posts like others do - I am incapable of having a wordless post.

This week's post is different - it's spanking new photographs straight from my iPhone to your eyes, unseen by anyone except on Facebook.

My two darling, organized, thoughtful, creative and beautiful daughters, Lori and Tami, put together a 70th birthday party for me over the weekend with 40 of our friends and relatives.  It was a grand time.  The theme was a 1950s sock hop with games (hula hoops, bubblegum blowing, marbles, etc.) and 1950s rock and roll music.  Plus toasts, ice cream and cake - the works.  There were photos of the pre-adult Randy on the tables (most of which I've shared in Wordless Wednesday posts previously) which elicited oohs and ahhs and questions ("you were such a cute little boy, what happened?").

Linda and I got there shortly after the party started, and were greeted by our four grandchildren:

That's Lucas (age 10) with the jeans, white t-shirt and Davy Crockett coonskin cap, Lauren (age 8) and Audrey (age 5) in their poodle skirts, Mary Janes and pink eyeglasses, and Logan (age 7) with the white t-shirt, leather jacket and slicked back hair (with a ducktail in back).  The boys are Lori's, the girls are Tami's.  Have I told you before how special each one is to Linda and me?

Inside, the table at the back of the room had two cakes - a chocolate cake with 70 candles on it, and a white cake decorated as below:

I didn't pose for many pictures of my own (someone else took this one), but here is Linda, some of our friends, and Lauren and Lucas with me after the bubblegum blowing contest (I was the judge - everyone won a prize!).

As you can see, I wore my Disneyland shirt (I went there in 1956), and also wore Linda's wig (yes, I even had hair in the 1950s) which the kids snatched early on.  Linda (in red) wore her Elvis Presley shirt.  

Attendees each received a pair of plastic designer eyeglass frames and the black and white scarf.  Some came in 1950s garb (even another lady in a poodle skirt).  

After some toasts and an inane speech by the guest of honor, the girls lit the 70 candles on the cake (which almost set off the fire alarm) and I blew out the candles (only took about five seconds, cough cough).  They cut the cake, and the guests lined up for cake, ice cream and toppings.  Here is a shot of Audrey and the toppings:

All of my favorite candies from the 1950s!  The kids all had two or three scoops of ice cream, with many toppings, and a piece of cake.  Don't tell anybody, I did too!  

My thanks to Lori and Tami for all of their efforts, planned from afar and executed Sunday afternoon.  We loved seeing many old friends, and showing off the grandkids.  I think the kids had the most fun - they took drink orders and delivered soda bottles to guests, took part in all of the games (they can all hula hoop really well), gave sweet short toasts on the microphone, and hammed it up for pictures. 

This was one of my most memorable family history events!  I hope that the girls and grandkids remember it all of their lives.  I know that I will.

Yes, today, 23 October, is my 70th birthday.  I lay in bed this morning and calculated that it was my 25,569th get-up (that's 70 years times 365 days plus 18 leap days plus 1 today - the start of year number 71).  That's 36,819,360 minutes of life, and about 2,209,161,600 heart beats.  

Maybe I'll take the rest of the day off... nope, I can't, gotta go to the CVGS meeting and do some research, get taken out to dinner by Linda, and watch the World Series game tonight.

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Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver