Tag Archives: 70th birthday

Posted in opinion

THE RELUCTANT SEPTAGENARIAN

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By Suzanne Sparrow Watson

      Leslie, (left) supervising me

I knew this day was coming – I could tell by the hanging jowls and the crepey skin.  Yet somehow waking up last week to the realization that I’ve entered my 70’s was a bit sobering.  I feel pretty darn good and my doctor says I’m in tip top shape.  Hmmmmm.  I cleaned out files recently and found some documents from a gym I belonged to in 1980.   As I perused my old weight and measurement chart I was pretty pleased until I took my current measurements.  How can I possibly weigh the same and yet be bigger in every place that counts?  Are my ear lobes appreciably smaller?  Does gray hair weigh less than blonde?  I’m guessing the weight loss has occurred in my brain because I’m not sure how much is up there anymore.  I’ve spent a lot of time at home this summer so you’d think I would be pretty familiar with my house, yet I still wander into a room and wonder what I’m doing there.  As my friend Liz Gett always says, “These days I only retain water”. 

 

Still, I’m doing just fine and especially in this catastrophic year of 2020, I’m just glad to be upright.  Don Imus, the former disc jockey also ran a camp for kids with cancer.  He once said whenever he’d go to some soiree on the Upper East Side where people complained about their age his response was to ask them if they would like to visit his camp, where 12 year-olds were just hoping to make it to 15.   Every year on my birthday I think about Leslie, my childhood best friend.  The photo is us at my 10th birthday where she supervised my gift opening, just as she supervised most everything I did. She called me every year on my birthday without fail.   On my 64th birthday we had a long conversation and she laughed hysterically when I told her I had chickenpox.  It was the last time we spoke; she died suddenly a couple of months later.  I still miss her and think about her on my birthday so far be it from me to complain about reaching 70.

           Just some of my bounty!

Besides, I had a wonderful celebration filled with …what else?… cake!  I guess at this age it’s good to be known for something.  I have friends that are known for being smart, dressing well, a kind heart, a great artist, you name it.  I, on the other hand, am known for my love of cake. I used to be the kid at the birthday party who would elbow my way to the cake cutter so I could get the corner piece with the big, sugary flower on it.  This year I received three cakes for my birthday, including one that exploded with flowers, candy and cake when I lifted the lid.  I didn’t share ANY of them with my husband.  It dawned on me that I might have a problem when the guy we’re working with to select new flooring (that’s an “I need to have my head examined” story for another blog) brought me a dozen doughnuts.  I think I have a problem and so far as I know, there is no such thing as Cake Anonymous.

Perfect pairing – wine and dessert

My celebration was capped by a fabulous dinner at Vivace Restaurant in Tucson.  Due to illness and a wariness of COVID it ended up being just me, my niece and my great-niece for dinner.  Actually, it was perfect!  We had such a wonderful time catching up.  There is something special about three generations who enjoy each other’s company and share laughter and good stories.  Most of them true.  The restaurant is spectacular and the food was beyond tasty.  One advantage of our smaller group was there was more dessert to go around.  The restaurant offered a lovely tiramisu in honor of my birthday, but really, sharing dessert among three people doesn’t quite meet the mark so we also ordered a crème brulee and a chocolate molten lava cake with ice cream.   All that, coupled with the wine, provided a sugar rush that I’ll still be recovering from on my next birthday. Still, it was worth every spoonful.

So I was feeling pretty good about turning 70 and life in general and then the worst happened – the NCAA cancelled the football season. Is it even fall if there is no college football?  COVID has been hard enough but life without college football seems unfathomable.  I may just have to eat more cake.

Posted in Blog Info / Up-dates • Family

A BIRTHDAY TRIBUTE TO MY BROTHER

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By Suzanne Sparrow Watson

Bob's 70th

Bob, his wife Linda,their son, daughters, their husbands and two VERY cute grandchildren

It is an unfortunate fact that oftentimes in life we don’t let people know how we feel about them until we’re delivering their eulogy.  We assume, we presume, we procrastinate.  And then we end up saying something to the effect of, “Gee, I never told him how I really feel about him.”

Fortunately this will not be the case for my brother Bob.  Our entire family gathered this past weekend to celebrate his 70th birthday and as all our family gatherings tend to be, it was filled with laughter, good story-telling (mostly true but not always), and some sentimental tears. One of Bob’s daughters arranged for 70 different people to write a tribute to him. As he reads them hopefully he will realize that from the time he was a small boy until today, he has been a much-admired person.  We should all be so lucky to have an experience such as this.  So with your indulgence, my blog today is an edited version of my tribute to Bob…a truly great brother.

 

Dear Bob,

I can’t believe you are 70 years old today!  Boy, you are OLD.  But, make no mistake, in very good shape.  For your age…and considering that your hips and knees are shot.  And we don’t even want to think about your liver.  But today we mark this important milestone and let you know how very special you are.  I’m sure you will get lots of notes and cards from family and friends to mark this significant birthday.  But only one person can tell you what a great big brother you have been – and that’s me.

Our relationship started out a bit rocky.  After all, I was the interloper who caused you, at age 7, to go from the baby of the family to the middle child.  So you did what all big brothers do with pesky younger sisters – you figured out ways to torment me.

As adults, however, we found a lot of common ground.   We both have a reverence for books and, of course, enjoy writing.  But first and foremost is our shared sense of humor.  We both think we’re pretty funny, which is good because sometimes other people don’t.  Pop was a big influence on us, of course, but you always added a wry spin to a story or took pleasure in the outrageous.  I still laugh when I think about the messages you used to leave at my office.  Like the one you left when I was well into middle age:  “Please tell Suz that her A.A. meeting tonight has been cancelled.”  I explained to my secretary, “That’s just my brother – he has a very funny sense of humor.”  I’m not sure she ever saw me in quite the same way again.

As I thought about my lifetime of memories with you, there are two stories from our childhood that kept coming back to me.  I think that’s because these two stories, of you as a boy, portend the wonderful man you would become.

1955

Jack, Suz and Bob …around 1955.

The first story is actually my first memory in life, in 1954 or 55.  The three of us were in the backseat of Dad’s station wagon, on our way to Playland at the Beach in San Francisco.  As Playland came into sight, you suddenly shot up out of your seat and shouted, “Look!  There it is!!  We’re here!”  I was so surprised by your sudden movement and unbridled enthusiasm that even today the memory of it is fresh.  Once there you soaked it all in – Laughing Sal, the Fun House, the carnival rides and the shooting galleries.  You even gave me one of your prizes.  On the way home you were completely satisfied – you had been someplace exciting and done something fun.  Today, you are still that boy, enthused about travel, excited to go someplace new, and still generous in spirit.

My second memory is of an event a few years later.  I had committed some infraction and was sent up to my room without dinner.  I was scared to be alone, but I trudged up the stairs and heaved myself onto my bed, sobbing.  A short while later you came to my room, carrying a bowl of soup.  I cried on your shoulder, scared to be alone while you were all downstairs eating.  Then you noticed that an ant had crawled onto my hand.  You watched as it crawled around my fingers and you assured me it would stay with me and be my friend.  But you were wrong.  My friend in the room that day was you.  All throughout your life you have been a good friend to many people, but no one has been more appreciative of your friendship than me.  Today, you continue to be thoughtful and caring, especially with children, whether it is through your work at Ronald McDonald House, your CASA companion, or your own grandchildren, Dylan and Emma.

2013

Jack, Suz and Bob – 2013 and we still love each other!

All of my life you have been a constant source of support, whether in times of joy or times of trouble, to offer perspective and humor, kindness and help.  We are all so lucky – we three – to have each other not only as siblings but as friends.  To want to spend time together and savor each moment.  And in part that is due to you, the middle child, the glue that keeps the three parts together.

As much as I love to write, I will never be able to find the words to adequately express how very much you mean to me.  Just know that I love you with all of my heart and that you have been a very positive influence in my life.  I am so very lucky to have you as a big brother.

Happy 70th Birthday, Bob!