Happy Birthday, David Abel

Happy 20th Birthday to my "Zany" (his own words) Baby Brother.

This morning I woke up to find a beautiful e-mail from my mother. She wrote a long e-mail detailing her and my father's memories of Dave over the past 20 years. I can only attempt to imagine what it must be like to bring a life into this world and then suddenly see that life blossom into an intelligent, funny, and caring young man. I remember David running around in his Ninja Turtle pajamas as clearly as I remember him giving me a tour of the NYC subway system. My parents must look at us and see us as the Trafalmadorians would see Time - like a stretch of the Rocky Mountains, equally age 3 and age 20 in the same moment.

I was talking to the woman (Jill) who is replacing me at work today. Jill is a sixty year old woman with a thirty year old son and two baby granddaughters. She told me that she is very proud of her son because he is such a good father, because he isn't afraid to take risks and have adventures and make mistakes in front of his children. Jill remarked that it is important for parents to show their children how to adventure, and I almost started to cry because I realized that is exactly what our mother and father have shown us our entire lives. And I owe a great debt of gratitude to "The Dons" for their brave spirit - I think it helped to raise two rather interesting, motivated children (if I do say so myself).


So Happy Birthday, Dave. I love you very much.