Happy Birthday, Mom and Dad

May is a month that holds several birthdays for our family. Two of them are my mother and father's.

Last night we celebrated Dad's 81st birthday, and since I'll be half way around the world when Mom's comes around this Friday - we celebrated hers also. Here's a photo that Linda made where part of our family gathered for a dinner in their honor. Mom enjoyed the salad - Dad enjoyed the attention. In case you're wondering, that's Dad wearing the hat.

As an elderly lady at a nearby table was studying Dad's new birthday hat, he told her, "I only get to wear this thing one day a year." She smiled and then refocused her attention to her plate.

The chapeau is courtesy of my younger brother, Bruce. He seems to specialize in unusual gifts for Dad. I won't go into a list of the more exotic gifts, but, if you have ever seen the green baseball cap that lights up with red letters, spelling out "Bah, Humbug" - well, Bruce is also responsible for that. We can look for that gem to come out again the day after Thanksgiving.

As we were walking toward our seats, a party at one of the tables began singing, "Happy Birthday" do Dad (obviously due to the head gear he was sporting). He and Mom stood there talking to the folks while the rest of us were seated. After several minutes my son, Benji, walked back over to the table and said "Papaw, come on and let these folks eat."

"Are you kidding?" the guy at the table answered. "We'd have to pay for a show like this anywhere else!"

Dad knows darned near everyone, so I asked him who those folks were.

"I don't know." he replied. "The guy asked, 'Aren't you Caudle Adkins?' When I said, 'Yes' he said, 'I've been listening to you on the radio for years! When I was just a young Christian, many years ago, you came to our church at Dry Branch (in Kanawha County) and held a revival. You've always been one of my favorites.'"

And so it goes.

Besides me and my brothers (Bruce and Carl) Mom and Dad have impacted many lives over the years.

Yesterday Dad turned 81. Friday Mom will be 79. I am thankful for my parents, and so grateful that I still have them. Mom will not remember the events of the evening but she had a good time, none the less.

Dad ALWAYS has a good time...

"This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it." Psalm 118: 24