michael's dad

this was michael's father's childhood street.
his father's home.
  the place where his father was a boy.

i imagine him there.

imagine him being pulled in his radio flier wagon.
the wagon he still has. the wagon he has pulled his own grandchildren in. 

 i look down san nicolas and la plata street, and think of him
 playing with his favorite neighborhood friend, whose name rhymed with his.
what a pair denny & kenny must have been!

i imagine him tinkering with his train-set near the christmas tree.
the same train-set his own boys and grandsons have tinkered with.

i think of him eating his mother's meatloaf.  i know he smothered it in ketchup.
he smothers everything in ketchup.

i think of the little boy feet that balanced on the bricks his own father laid at the lawns edge.
now his son, a man, walks in his steps.

today that boy is 66.

he is
husband,
father,
grandfather.
he is
kind,
  servant,
integrity,
hard-worker,
laughter,
teacher.
 he is
legacy.

Proverb 13:22 says
"a good man leaves an inheritance for his children's children."

so today, dennis, on your 66th birthday, i say thank you.
thank you for living a good story.
your children delight in the steps you have taken,
and follow in them. 
thank you for seeking God and for encouraging your children to seek Him.  
thank you for leaving your children and your children's children a legacy.

we are blessed to be written into your good story.

happy birthday!