Another birthday comes around

I've beat that dead horse about 'our time of the year', which doesn't mean as much now that our daughter-in-law, her and our son's anniversary, and our little doll granddaughter all have their big days in May.  And, as can be expected, things have always been muddied anyway, with each year various forces trying to intrude on any and all traditions, customs and ties to the past, no matter the time of year.  

Nonetheless, our third oldest's birthday, now after that goofy Juneteenth that nobody seems to know why we celebrate, has special punch to it.  It's around the six month sprint to Christmas, still that most magical time of year despite Madison Avenue's and Hollywood's attempts otherwise.  And it means we're on the down slope from Summer (my least favorite season) and heading into Fall (my most favoritest).

This wasn't one of the big, monumental birthdays.  But it wasn't a lost one either.  Comfortably in his mid 20s, he's going to culinary school to pick up where his older brother had to leave off.  Years ago, after the BLM riots caused him to step away from going into law enforcement (shame, he's the large, big hearted type you want as a police officer, but that's leftwing activism for you), he confided in me about something.  That is, he also enjoys cooking and wouldn't mind going into the world of gourmet cooking - he just didn't have the heart because of his brother.  I told him that's commendable, but he also has his life and own calling to think about.  After some time, and hard work, and getting to work next to one of central Ohio's top chefs, he decided to take the plunge - with his oldest brother's blessings. 

As birthdays go, with all the health roller coasters we've been riding these last couple months, it was a little sedate.  We got him the obligatory wargame (he is our board game guru after all).  He was gifted a couple other things that he enjoyed (he's so easy to buy for). We were shocked at how much he loved one of his gifts.  We weren't really imagining that, but that's the fun of gift giving.  His menu request was rather simple this year - Roast beef and Yorkshire pudding, with fixins.  And a nice family time with the others and the grandbaby bringing the fun.  

Plus, for added fun, a while back we decided to take the plunge into that colossus of all wargames that I've written about, World in Flames.  The ultimate comprehensive WWII game.  It's a favorite of his; more a stand alone hobby than a game.  More about logistics than military maneuvers, and he's all about logistics.  No matter what he does in life, he'll be happier if it involves crunching numbers.  Of course we no longer can get all the brothers around for something like that.  But we decided this time we'll adopt a sort of 'deal me in/deal me out' approach.  That is, as long as one is on each side and available, we can play.  The others will be brought up to speed when they're around.  I also promised this time I'll keep a log so whatever crazy might happen to disrupt things, we won't have to start from scratch because we can't remember what was happening. That made him happy.

So as birthdays go in tumultuous times, not bad.  Here's to another year and a blessed one ahead.