happy birthday, dan

Hey, thirty-five is looking pretty good.

It's always fun to go back looking for old pictures of you.  You were such a pretty baby, agreeable and cuddly.

 Who turned into a cute kid:

And now you have your own cute kids:

And when that little one gets a little bigger, you guys go back to Mexico again.  We will watch them while you're gone.

You are hard-working and disciplined, organized and conscientious.  You are practical and yet a little artistic, and completely trustworthy.   One of the nicest compliments anyone ever paid me was a house-cleaning reference, and he had a somewhat sketchy reputation himself.  He said, "You could trust her with your baby, your dog, your car, and all your money."

Thanks, Jim.

But he could have been talking about you as well.

 And you also have a fine, sarcastic sense of humor, astute observations, sometimes a little blunt, but also pretty forgiving.

This is one of my favorite pictures.  Besides all that other stuff, this one cuts right to the pure sweetness of you.

Happy Birthday, Buddy.

Thanks for being our kid.

We're lucky and we know it.

love, Mom and Dad, and Everybody