So This Is 30

Being a child groom, as I was, has advantages. D1 just turned 30, and I'm still relatively young. 

The big 3-oh. D1 didn't want a party, but Joey and I encouraged her -- it's nice to mark the decades. So Wifey and I gave her the gift of paying for her party -- and she had it the night before T Day, so D2 and Jonathan could attend.

Wifey and I and D1's suegros Ricardo and Jacqui were the only older guests, and we were supposed to leave early. Joey's folks did, but I enjoyed catching up with D1's lifelong friends too much, so we stayed a bit longer. D2 and Jonathan stayed over -- in the room called D2's room. They had a fine time.

Yesterday D1 was a bit under the weather, and I joked it was a good thing she got the party out of the way early. Still, we talked, and I wrote her a long email, which is my custom each year.

The decades truly fly by. I still clearly remember the day she was born. Wifey went into labor early -- it was a Sunday, and didn't progress for a long time. Her doc and I watched the Jets beat the Fins in one of those classic Dan Marino - Ken O'Brien shootouts, and watched the west coast game, too -- it might have been the Chargers. After there was no more football to occupy us, Dr. Strassbourg and Dr. Kenward went ahead with a C Section, and a petite baby girl was placed in my arms and I fell in love.

The only regret I ever had about D1 was that my beloved Dad never got to meet her -- he would have savored her intelligence and humor. When D1 was about 4, she had already heard a LOT about her late grandfather. One early weekend morning, she sat next to me on the couch as I read the paper. All of a sudden she looked up at me with her doe eyes, and asked "Daddy -- would Grandpa Hy have loved me?"  I grabbed her and told her through my tears that indeed he would have...

Meanwhile, D2 and Jonathan made it home to chilly NYC. It was sad to see them off, but happy they're due back in less than a month. Still, this am Wifey and I sat on the couch and realized we missed D2 sitting there with us. We really dig our kids.

Tonight the weather is blissfully cool -- per my weather app, it "feels like" 50. I lit my first fire of the season in my firepit, and sat with the dogs, contemplating the cosmos. I gave a hearty thanks to the Big Man.

I recently heard a saying that resonated with me: the days are long, but the decades are short. It's certainly true.

So I wish a hearty happy three decades to my beloved D1. I am one extremely lucky Daddy in the USA.