Happy 80th Birthday
Mom and Dad
Back to Brink Family
Turning Eighty,
by Loraine Brink
October 9th, 2006
Who could ever imagine that turning eighty would be so much fun. In October,
most of the kids came to Ephraim for a work week-end. I got the big and
little grandkids hauling rocks. Some spruced up the interior, while others
were doing manly chores, like chopping down trees, making wood chips,
hauling logs, etc. Most of the work was done by early afternoon.
Following dinner, the program commenced. Don still has some of the 80
cough drops, anise candies, and eighty artifacts from NML. Luciana wrote
goll dinghy dang-it 80 times (one of Grandpa’s sayings.) Linda composed
a writing with exactly 80 words. Stu Ronda and family gave him new earphones
for the TV He’ll use them eighty times eighty times for sure.
Steve and Patty couldn’t be at the workfest, so they invited Don
and me to Washington DC for four wonderful days. The highlight was the
WWII memorial, and the judge from Arkansas who wanted Don’s autograph.
We saw the Holocaust Museum, FDR, Korean, Vietnam memorials, Kennedy’s
eternal flame, ate lots and loved every minute of it. His birthday lasted
four weeks.
WASHINGTON DC PHOTOS- I'll add
more this summer
Steve and Patty drove us down to Sarasota, got us settled and flew back. That started two months of fun. John and Jo, Joanna and Trey took us out to an Italian restaurant, great food, with a roaming fiddler. That was the start of six weeks of birthday. The next week, special flowers from Bobbie. Days later, Stu and Ronda sent more lovely flowers.. The next week, Linda sent 3 kringles from O & H Bakery in Racine, fantastically delicious. I thought that everything was terrific and the birthday was over.
MORE PICTS
Don's Sarasota Picts
On Thursday, March 23rd, the phone
rang: This is Bobbie, what are you doing? I told her she sounded so hollow,
when in she walked! Rosie (Dan’s sister)was with her and Joanna--she
had taken the afternoon off to pick them up at the airport. They carried
balloons, flowers, shouting Happy Birthday! I’ve never been so surprised!
Next day, Don and Bobbie went to pick something up, I never gave it a
tumble. They were gone so long, Rosie and I were playing games when finally
they came in carrying a birthday cake telling us a story about the cake
they ordered wasn’t ready, and they went to the grocery store and
got one there. A minute later, tap, tap tap and there’s Carla! Happy
Birthday! Another huge surprise and I hadn’t had a clue.
Linda flew into Orlando and spent two days with John and Jo before coming
to our place
on Tuesday. We were all together for a few more days—A most special
time. Linda helped drive us home. We had to deliver peanuts to Don Jr
and there was another birthday present—a paper shredder, something
I didn’t know I wanted, (but I use it all the time.)
Thanks kids! You are the best!!!!!
MOM and DAD
MOVIE OF THE SURPRISE
