{"id":2414,"date":"2013-12-23T06:00:52","date_gmt":"2013-12-23T14:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/?p=2414"},"modified":"2014-03-14T10:47:39","modified_gmt":"2014-03-14T17:47:39","slug":"just-amazing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/?p=2414","title":{"rendered":"AMAZING FAMILY!"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"suz<\/a>

Suzanne & Linda<\/p><\/div>\n

by Bob Sparrow<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Who has a better sister and wife than I do?\u00a0 NoooooooooBody!!\u00a0<\/strong> At the risk of beating a dead horse, or at least an old horse, for our readers, I must revisit my 70th birthday celebration and thank a number of people who made it such an AMAZING<\/strong> event.\u00a0 My first thank you goes to my lovely wife Linda, who orchestrated a weekend of surprise after surprise.\u00a0 Granted when you have a husband who is totally clueless, it\u2019s easy to pull off surprises, but nonetheless she did a masterful job \u2013 a week after the event, I still don\u2019t suspect anything!<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 With the \u2018Big One\u2019<\/strong> approaching, Linda<\/strong> asked me how I wanted to celebrate the conclusion of my 70th trip around the sun<\/strong>.\u00a0 I said I didn\u2019t want a big party, just something with the FAMILY<\/strong>.\u00a0 That was the end of my participation.\u00a0 Several days later she told me that she\u2019d booked four villas in Palm Desert<\/strong> at the Marriott Desert Springs<\/strong>, where we love spending a week every April at our timeshare.\u00a0 Perfect, just the kids, grandkids and us.<\/p>\n

\"Jackalope\"<\/a>

Cocktails at Jackalope in the desert<\/p><\/div>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Late Thursday afternoon, while grubbing around in the yard, the doorbells rings, Linda asks me to get it.\u00a0 I come to the door in tattered jeans and dirty t-shirt; it\u2019s my brother, Jack and wife Sharon<\/strong>, I greet them with the warm welcome of, \u201cWhat the hell are you guys doing here?!\u201d\u00a0 They responded with a Happy Birthday and that they are going to Palm Desert with us.\u00a0 I\u2019m thrilled.\u00a0 Later that evening (I did sneak in a shower and change of clothes) the doorbell rings again and, still clueless, I go to the door and there are four couples of our good friends, Mark & Kathy, Jack & JJ, Bob & Marge and John and Judy<\/strong> \u2013 they\u2019re standing at our front door singing Christmas carols that turn into Happy Birthday.\u00a0 When we\u2019re all seated at the bar in our family room, Linda brings out a small box and asks me to open it.\u00a0 It is a brochure for a 12-day trip for two to Kathmandu,<\/strong> Nepal<\/strong>, which includes a 5-day trek through the foothills of the Himalaya<\/strong>!\u00a0 My jaw drops!!!\u00a0 She says, there is no way she\u2019s going, that the trip is for my brother and me.\u00a0 All I can say is “AMAZING!”<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>

Jack, Suzanne & me<\/p><\/div>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 By mid-day Friday we\u2019re checking in at the Villas in Palm Desert<\/strong>.\u00a0 When we got there, there is only one villa that has been cleaned and available, so we walked over to the hotel and had some lunch at poolside in perfect weather.\u00a0 Upon our return I walked into the one villa we had and I see a man, with his back to us, sitting out on the deck, and assume I went into the wrong villa.\u00a0 Then one of my favorite people and one of the funniest I know, turns around and wishes me a Happy Birthday \u2013 it\u2019s Matt Sparrow<\/strong>, my nephew \u2013 Jack\u2019s son.\u00a0 Fast forward to mid-day Saturday and I get my annual birthday phone call from my sister, who always calls me and sings Happy Birthday the way Marilyn Monroe<\/strong> sang it to Jack Kennedy<\/strong>.\u00a0 As I\u2019m standing there listening to her, she walks in the door \u2013 she had just flown in from Scottsdale – AMAZING!<\/strong> \u00a0Later that afternoon close friends and \u2018practically family members\u2019, Mark, Kathy<\/strong> and daughter, Kristin<\/strong> (best friend of our daughter, Dana<\/strong>) arrived to celebrate the occasion.<\/p>\n

\"joe<\/a>

Joe & Dana<\/p><\/div>\n

One last surprise remained.\u00a0 I was told to stay in my villa as preparations for \u2018the party\u2019 Saturday evening were taking place in Joe & Dana\u2019s<\/strong> villa.\u00a0 When I was asked to \u2018come to the party\u2019 I was blown away.\u00a0 Dana and Joe had decorated the villa with pictures at \u2018food stations\u2019 they’d created representing a number of the places we\u2019ve visited, Italy<\/strong> (Meatballs marinara, Fried cheese, beef Carpaccio with lemon arugula), Africa<\/strong> (Moroccan lamb kabobs with Tzatziki sauce, veggie couscous, roasted plantains), Japan<\/strong> (Ahi and Yellowtail crudo, crying tiger beef skewers, garlic and chili edamame) and Hawaii<\/strong> (Kalua pork sliders on Hawaiian rolls, grilled pineapple, Ahi poke). All the food was AMAZING!<\/strong> There we also \u2018drink stations\u2019 from Ireland<\/strong> (beer and Irish whiskey), my Dad\u2019s famous martinis at \u2018Poppin\u2019s Grotto\u2019<\/strong> and \u2018Klappers\u2019<\/strong> (cheap rum and diet cola) named after my dearly departed best friend, Don Klapperich<\/strong>.\u00a0 The birthday cake, in a \u2018travel and music\u2019<\/strong> theme had a quote from me about traveling and seeing things a little differently than most.\u00a0 Dana then gave me a box decorated in the \u2018travel and music\u2019<\/strong> theme that she had put together, containing 70 individual birthday wishes<\/strong> from friends and family (you saw my sister\u2019s in last week\u2019s blog) – they were AMAZING! \u00a0<\/strong>A huge thank you to those who took the time to write something nice and send it back (for some I\u2019m certain it took quite some time to find something nice to say). \u00a0Seriously, I am was touched and am blessed to have such wonderful friends.<\/p>\n

\"3<\/a>

Stephanie, Jeff & Dana<\/p><\/div>\n

Thank you to an AMAZING FAMILY<\/strong>, especially those who made this an unforgettable (even for a forgetful 70 year old) experience – Stephanie, Jason, Dylan & Emma; Dana & Joe, Jeff, Jack & Sharon, Suzanne, Matt, (Mark, Kathy & Kristin) and especially to Linda whose dedication to FAMILY<\/strong>\u00a0is unsurpassed.\u00a0 To quote Lou Gehrig, \u201cI am the luckiest man on the face of the earth\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 OK, enough with the birthday stuff, I\u2019ve got some really interesting places to take you next year \u2013 hope you’ll enjoy them vicariously\u00a0\u2018from a bird\u2019s eye view\u2019.<\/p>\n

HOPE YOU AND YOUR FAMILY HAVE A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND AN ADVENTUROUS NEW YEAR!\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Bob Sparrow \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Who has a better sister and wife than I do?\u00a0 NoooooooooBody!!\u00a0 At the risk of beating a dead horse, or at least an old horse, for our readers, I must revisit my 70th birthday celebration … read more<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2416,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[936],"tags":[978,311,1253,352,1093,1251,1254,1255,1250,1252],"class_list":["post-2414","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-family","tag-africa","tag-hawaii","tag-ireland","tag-italy","tag-japan","tag-kathmandu","tag-klapperich","tag-lou-gehrig","tag-marriott-desert-springs-villas","tag-nepal"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p31aN0-CW","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/photo-9.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2414","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2414"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2414\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2627,"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2414\/revisions\/2627"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}