Yup, Another Birthday!

Today begins a new month and we still have a flood of birthdays coming. It does slow down considerably by July 4th so that is good! June is a month of great celebrations in our family.

Today we celebrate my youngest brother~Meet Gary!
Baby Brother, Husband, Father of 2 great kids, Business Owner,
and All Around Great Guy!

Gary is 56 today and is younger than me by 5 years and younger than Steve by 3. All of our birthdays are close together, so whenever Gary has one, Steve and I prepare to crank it up a notch! I rummaged through some old boxes and just pulled out a few things as a reminder of the days gone by. Here are just a few photos from the time you only had one little family...Mom, Dad, Steve and me. Happy Birthday, Gar, I hope you enjoy these!

**Gary, Grandpa, Bonnie, Grandma, Stevie**
Us with our grandparents~the only ones we ever knew~
Our Dad's Mom, Alice Grace Godfrey Colberg & Grampa Jake Yeasley

Kindergarten Photo~50 Years Ago!

Fish Catch on North Dakota vacation to visit our relatives!
Fish Theme of his life started to surface!

Gar the Golfer~Hole in One at age 14!

33 years Ago~Starting his new life with Marilyn!
He graduated in Marine Biology
Married a fisherman's daughter
Became a partner in Tom's Bait & Tackle Shop
in Santa Cruz with his new father-in-law!

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Fast forward to yesterday when we were all sharing vacation tales and Gar and Marilyn told us about their recent scuba diving experience. They were in the Bahamas and went down with a crew over 100 feet to see some spooky ship wreck and suddenly realized they were at the half way point for their air and needed to start their ascent. They somehow had gotten separated from the group and were on a side of the sunken ship where no one could see them. There was a very strong current and they started trying to swim, losing air quickly, but were not making any progress toward the rope they needed to hold on to to get back up to the surface. At one point while Gary was 8 feet above the wreck and not able to get where he wanted to go Marilyn thought..OK this is it..we are going to die here.

She was trying to find a way to get to him so she could share her air. It was very harrowing and hair raising just listening to them tell it. They made it up by the grace of God, but were shaken by the experience.

Live and learn? No! They did another dive the same day and sat on the bottom in the sand watching 8 foot sharks circling around the group. The sharks were full after being fed so they did not bother them but came close enough to graze past them eye ball to eye ball. However, as Jim so aptly pointed out, to an 8 foot shark Marilyn is an hor d'ouerve. How many times do you finish dinner and have an extra bite or two while cleaning up? After a normal amount of shrieking by the rest of us they said, " Oh don't worry, we are trained and certified...we all agreed, they are certified all right..Certified Crazy!

All my big sister instincts to run and tell mom and dad surfaced! But I guess at your age you can do whatever you want! Dang it! We truly are celebrating your life today, Gar! Glad you made it back in one piece. Have some cake and relax, will ya?

Happy Birthday!

I don't know this nutty diver guy~but maybe you do?

Be Careful! OK?