Wednesday, January 20, 2021
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My great Uncle Tommy was always larger than life to me. My grandmother had 1 brother, Tom and 1 sister, Barbara and I was born in Tom’s birthday and my brother was born on Barbara’s birthday. What are the odds of that? I like to believe that as birthday twins we shared a special bond. One of my favorite memories was my 18th birthday. I had just moved to California for college and my parents were in the military 6000 miles away. Uncle Tom came to town and took me out for our shared birthday celebration. It was his 50th so both of us were celebrating a particular milestone. We went to Bobby Magees which had a reputation for playing jokes with and on its customers. Our waiter had us wear coffee filters on our heads as birthday crowns and they sang birthday songs. Tom’s was “The old gray stud just ain’t what he used to be”. When Tom paid the bill they returned to him this mangled credit card. They said it got stuck in the machine and they were really sorry. The look on his face was priceless but it was a fake card and we all had a good laugh. My grandfather was my hero and he and Tom were such good friends and very much alike that when my grandfather passed Tom kind of took his place for me. I hope he knew how much I adored him! I love you my cousins! Adding a family picture of Tom and Barb with my side of the family. I love this picture and have it hanging prominently in my home.
