A Birthday Reunion
Arnold Griffin's namesake, his great grandpa Arnold, just turned 88. And to celebrate, his son, Jeff, initiated a dinner celebration that turned into a family reunion of sorts. The turn out was impressive and fitting for this much loved man. And properly irreverent.
My father was an only child, but my mom was "blessed" with a brother and four cousins. Grandpa Arn and his brother Wes were quite close and so were their families. They came from a long line of fun-loving Latvians. Wes had four boys, and Grandpa Arn had Jeff. And then there was my mom, the only girl in the midst of the very rough and tumble crew of boys. She tells a story of when she first introduced George, my stepdad, to the rest of this family at a reunion in Tahoe. As they were pulling up, George remarked about how he saw kids with some snow forts having a fantastic snowball fight with each other. My mom looked and saw these "kids" were her cousins, her ADULT cousins. During our last reunion, Darrell came back both entertained and slightly horrified after playing golf with Jeff, Andy, Al, Scott, and Sandy...not only were they doing donuts on the golf carts, but every time that one of them would take off, they would find that the golf clubs of the other had been unstrapped from the cart and were crashing onto the green.
I remember reunions as really fun occasions, filled with hilarity, practical jokes, light-hearted rivalries, and serious cribbage competition. They are some of my favorite memories of growing up in this family, so I was delighted to realize that Jeff's small dinner to celebrate Grandpa Arn's 88th turned into this impromptu reunion. All of the boys were in attendance, along with Jeff's wife and daughters, Al's wife Dede, and Andy's wife Sue (we really missed Scott's wife Karen and their kids and grandkids!). George and my stepsis Kelley were there, too. It was a great big table-full of folks who shared loads of hilarious stories, toasts, and roasts in honor of a much-loved dad/uncle/grandpa/great grandpa Arn.
The focus of celebration, the dapper Arn, with Jeff and Scott and Dede peeking around the side.
Listening to Sue tell a story.
Griff/aka Little Arnie, having fun with Grandpa Big.
The Boys serenading the "Birthday Boy."
For loads more photos, including a classic expression by Al and one of the birthday boy flipping us all the bird (see post from 12/11/09 to see Arn's namesake doing the same thing, I guess it runs in the family!) click here: http://picasaweb.google.com/littlebuglove/ArnoldSCrazyEights#
THANKS FOR PUTTING ALL THIS TOGETHER, JEFF, MOM, AND GRANDPA ARN (for fighting for our right to imbibe)!
AND A VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GRANDPA ARN!
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