Happy birthday, P-Dizz

You always hear people saying it - "where did the time go?". It's the perfect rhetorical question. I'm asking it today because eldest son turns 29.  Seriously, I cannot believe how fast it went!  He's OLD.  (That's him in the middle.  Son #2 is on left and their cousin* is on the right.)

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He's been an old man since birth, really and we often referred to him as the third parent.  Smart, good, kind, quiet...the only times I ever recall seeing him get upset is when he played video games.  Oh, Mario, you were so cruel to this boy sometimes!   Great student, not terrifically motivated because nothing was difficult and he never had to work at it, but he owns a degree from Penn State.  In the Army Reserves for 8 years and never deployed, which sort of disappointed him, because he joined to serve.  (And yet because of the Reserves, it took him nearly the whole 8 years to finish school!)  He has grown into someone strong, clearheaded and calm (really, if this one gets frazzled, think FUBAR).  I've appreciated it many times.  (Eldest on right, #2 on bike**.)

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So, where did the time go?!?  It seems like yesterday I put him on the kindergarten bus.  He drives himself around now!  (*smile*)

Slow down, time.

Love you bunches Paddy!

(From L to R: daughter, son #2, Grandpa, son #3, eldest son)

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*Cousin grew up to be, for a few years, a Miami Dolphins cheerleader.   She's the one in white.  Her name is not  Jess Staley.

**This is a funny picture because A: look at it! , and B: #2 didn't get his driver's license until he was 23 and only then because his father insisted he needed it because "you can't go through life without a driver's license" -  so this is about the most driving he ever did until the Army made him a DRIVER.