by Bob Sparrow
This theater logo, of the famous faces – Melpomene (tragedy) and Thalia (comedy), which is Greek in origin, has come to symbolize the last few weeks for me. Incredible highs and incredible lows. The tragedy obviously comes from the passing of Suzanne’s husband, Alan, in late July. We all cried when we read the beautiful tribute she wrote here last week. The comedy comes from a family reunion that was planned months ago and was on the weekend that immediately followed Alan’s passing. While our hearts were with Suzanne, in Arizona, our funny bones were in our backyard during the ‘Gathering of Sparrows’. This family’s sense of humor can be attributed to one man, our father, the original Jack Sparrow, or Poppins, as he was affectionately known. Aside from being one of the nicest and most gentlemanly people that God put on this earth, he had a tremendous sense of humor, that has been passed on to his children, to our children, and to their children. What an amazing legacy!
Poppins
The following are the players who attended the reunion, or ‘ReOnion’, as we called it, because . . . well, it sounded stupid: Brother Jack Sparrow and wife, Sharon; Jack’s kids Shelly, who flew in from Tucson and her daughter, Kate, who flew in from northern California; Jack’s son, Matt, who drove in from Tucson with his son, Jackson and daughter, Madelyn. Sharon’s son, Brad, his wife Betsy and their three kids, Riley, Allie and Zack, who drove all the way from Placentia. My kid, Stephanie and her husband Jason, and their two kids, Dylan and Emma; and Linda and my kids, Dana and husband, Joe, and their two kids, Addison and Mack, and our son, Jeff and his wife, Pam. Great music was provided by participants who forwarded me their favorite songs that I put on a playlist that ended up being over 250 songs long.
Most of the time was spent outside, with the young kids in the pool and the adults trying to figure out if they wanted another pina colada from the never-ending machine, a cold Landshark from the beer cooler or a Klapper (cheap rum and diet cola) – some put a lime in it for a ‘Dapper Klapper’, there was also the option of using non-caffeinated cola, ‘Napper Klapper’, but no one was napping this weekend! Cigars were also plentiful. ‘Butcher Block Joe’, provided one of the tastiest BBQs I’ve ever had, with ribs, chicken, pulled pork and brisket – soooooooooooooooo good!! Dana’s key lime pie put a perfect period at the end of that delicious sentence. After dinner drinks included, pina coladas, Landsharks, Klap . . . OK, you know the drill.
Hoping that a picture is worth a lot more than my words, following are some photos from the event; the first being the ‘Hat Parade’ – where everyone had to wear a hat. It seems I have a hat fetish, as I’ve got a closet full of them, so I felt it was time to come out of the closet . . . with my hats!!
Jackson’s ‘long arms’ provided the selfie of the ‘Hat Parade’
Pizza at the ‘Kids Table’
Kat & Madelyn – Two Beautiful Sparrows
Capt. Jack Sparrow at the ‘Wall of Masks’
Great food thanks to Joe & Dana
A mustachiod Mac looking very suspecious
‘The Kids’ – Dana, Matt, Steph, Shelley, Jeff
‘Clinging Cousins’ Ems & Adz
We missed you, Sis!!!
Oh yeah, the other event that occurred is that I achieved one of the two major goals that every golfer has. The first goal being a ‘hole in one’, which I have never had in all my 66 years of golfing; the second is ‘shooting your age’, which I did accomplish last month by shooting a 79 at Yorba Linda Country Club. I thought I was going to have to wait until I played ‘miniature golf’ when I was 104!