We weren’t expecting any more guests. The room was full, the cake was on the table and yes, my spouse was surprised.
But, then a knock at the door. Who? I opened the door and there stood a figure clad in a head-to-toe white suit. Not a polyester suit, but a something more along the lines of a hazmat suit. He, or she, was a white figure against the twilight of October, even though it was not yet Halloween with a mask hiding the face.
It kinda freaked me out, and I stepped ahead of this person as we made our way to the center of the crowd.
He, we found out in a minute, handed over a small thin piece of plywood to the birthday boy that read, “Didn’t have a card, so here is a board.”Uncle Ed.
He has quite a sense of humor. I saved it. When Ed and Alice celebrated their 40th, it went back to them. Then back to me, then back to Ed for his 65th birthday. I didn’t think much about it after that.
However, when the decision to sell the family home on Boulevard Avenue in 2014, the board came back to me – as a happy birthday wish. I was thrilled they had not thrown it out with the rest of the items they had to part with as they downsized their belongings.
I half entertained the notion of using that board as a sympathy card at the funeral last week, but I didn’t. I wanted to keep it a happy card.
And, so my children, if when I journey to meet my grandparents, aunts and uncles in Heaven, just know you will be finding a birthday board in the bookshelf. Just because.
INDYchildrendotme 
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