Paul's Day

Today is my eldest son’s birthday.  He was born in “Wild and Wonderful West Virginia.”  I was a junior in college and we were living in a 35-foot trailer on the college campus.  Paul’s first bedroom was a wardrobe closet in that trailer where the “porta-crib” just barely fit.  He didn’t seem to mind and somehow we managed to live together quite happily.

Fast-winding the years of tape: Paul and his wife, Helen, now have two sons.  Austin just graduated from college and has started his career.  Nick is a junior in college.  Where have the years gone?  I think of Tevyia in the film “Fiddler on the Roof” singing the song “Sunrise, Sunset” and realize I can sing with him now…

Is this the little girl I carried?

Is this the little boy at play?

I don’t remember growing older

When did they?

When did she get to be a beauty?

When did he grow to be so tall?

Wasn’t it yesterday when they, were, small?

Sunrise, sunset, Sunrise sunset

Swiftly flow the days

Seedlings turn overnight to sunflowers

Blossoming even as we gaze

Sunrise, sunset, Sunrise sunset

Swiftly fly the years

One season following another

Laden with happiness and tears.”

But now, after some sunrises and sunsets, even Paul and Helen can sing with Tevyia and me, “Wasn’t it only yesterday when they were small?…Swiftly fly the years.”

But today isn’t about the years gone by, or us, Paul’s parents,  or me, his father, nor about his family.  It is Paul’s Day. A day of celebrating Paul.   Happy Birthday, Paul.

Paul & Sons