We held him for a moment longer, my mother and I, and then let him go. He finished wiping his eyes on the little Strawberry Shortcake napkin. “Sorry to be a gusher, Crystal. I'm just extremely grateful for all of you, and I think it'll be a long time before we're all together again on a birthday. That's all.”

I've seen Dad at, oh, maybe four or five birthdays since that day, Journey. Carmen and Percy were even in town for one while Casey or I or both were at college. So you see the whole clan hasn't been together in something like a dozen years.

What do you get that kind of man for a reunion birthday like this one coming up? Like I said, I've been asking. I first raised the question around the shop a month ago. The usual pat suggestions came back: tools and ties. Joni suggested I buy him some new software for his computer. (She is spending waaay too much time with Brady, Journey.) But it was Vivian who pulled the winner out of her magic hat.

“Why don't you all make one of those collages like when you were a teen but just use pictures of his grandkids and of you girls when you were little kids? That's what my mom did for her parents' 40 th wedding anniversary. They loved it.”

Sometimes that girl can come through.

So Carm and her kids have been working on the collage. I looked on e-bay and found a huge frame that's a silhouetted shape of a Jaguar Mark IX. I think it may have originally hung in a Jag dealership. I had it shipped to Carm's out in Long Island . Casey had scanned in a ton of old photos and posted them up to Yahoo photos before she left so she would have a few snapshots of the family to look at when she started feeling homesick. She emailed Cora and Carmen which pix she thought would work nicely. And of course Mom was more than happy to lug a couple of albums to New York when she went up there to visit a few weeks ago.

The whole process has felt like a true group effort. I hope Dad likes it. I'm sure he will. Carm says her kids are over half done already, but are waiting to finish until we all arrive.

I'm about ready to burst apart just thinking about seeing them all tomorrow.

Shop seems to be in good shape. No big crises. They're all still a bit high from the Brentwood victory. Of course, scoring new clients means extra work for everybody; especially Shelly. I still need to figure out a way to get her to 80/20 her client reco's. But hey, it will wait until after I get back.

If sales keep climbing the way they are now, and we can limit the expenses, they all should have pretty decent bonuses come the Fourth of July. They'll certainly have earned it.

Goodnight, Journey.

Read March 14th entry.

Read March 19th entry.