Renee is 24 years old today! Wow! My parents' first grandchild is almost a quarter of a century old… Now, doesn't that make everyone feel old?

Happy Birthday, Renee!

April is a big month for birthdays in my family. April 11 has a double hit. And quite a hit it is. Both birthday babies are hitting milestones. (Did I say "hit" enough yet?) Jamie is a big one oh today. That's right… 10 years old! Double digits! A big happy birthday to you, Jamie!!! Mandy. How does it feel to be 40? Yes… four zero… forty. Closer to 50 than 20. Have a good one! From the look of this picture, it is driving you crazy. I know, I've been there a whole five days so far.

So. Here’s the scenario. I am at work, talking with with one of my peers whom I happen to supervise. We are having a fairly serious conversation when the screensaver on my computer kicks in. I have most of my personal photos on my computer and my screensaver is a random display of these photos. Each photo appears on the screen for about 3 seconds.

This photo pops on the screen. I try my best to make sure that I am speaking and NOT looking at the screen. I have one eye on the screen, and one eye on the person in the room making sure HER eyes are NOT on the screen. It was a LOOONG 3 seconds. When the photo finally disappeared, she calmly, without cracking a smile, said “I saw that.”

Shit.

Even though it was at my expense, I could see the humour in this self-inflicted awkward situation. I smirked and squirmed a little… Apparently noticing my embarrassment, she said, “I think it’s cool that you are self-confident enough to take pictures like that.”

Yeah… that’s it… Self-confident.

Happy Birthday, Bill!  (Nice shirt)

Raise a glass, Dad. Happy 65th birthday to you!

I hope I’m half the man you are when I am your age.

Have a good one!

Over the years, we’ve taken a lot of photos. The volume had increased when we ventured into the world of digital photography a few years ago. We have intentions to scan our old photographs, bringing all of our pre-digital memories into the digital age.

One such photo is the one on this post. This ranks right up there as one of my favourite photos ever. It was taken shortly after we moved from Newfoundland to New Brunswick. I had a job offer I couldn’t refuse, and Donna and Garrett followed me. We made a last minute decision not to move into the house I picked out which would have required a 12-month lease. Instead, we ended up in a shit-hole apartment that looked like it was built in the 60’s and hadn’t been updated since. (See the carpet? Jeez!)

In this photo, taken almost 10 years ago, Garrett and I were horseplaying. The living room was cluttered because we didn’t completely unpack. We had no intention on staying in the apartment for long; it was just going to tide us over until something better presented itself. Anyway… Garrett, me, horseplaying…boxes and junk sitting around the living room. You can see what happened next. Garrett backed away from one of my “punches” and went ass-first into an empty box! Hilarious! I quickly grabbed the camera and snapped this photo.

I like it because it is so genuine and spontaneous. Garrett, at six years old, was able to laugh at himself and enjoy the situation. Sometimes when you think you have nothing, you have an awful lot, eh?