He gets more comfortable being himself each year. Time is his friend. The edges are smoother, the look more real. He is a family man. If asked, he will say it snuck on him. In looking back, he realizes it took a lot of time. Time to trim off the bits that would cut through life with an attitude. In their place, is acceptance of others and that many are different and walk a path unlike his. Time to let him stray a bit this way and a bit that way until he returned to the path he knew was right. A path of family.
His world is family. His family is world. It is for them he mingles and is the man about town. He likes making blue collar folks smile cause he flirts with them or swaps fix it stories with hands that honor the adage, “the older I get, the better I was”. He enjoys being around people that live in his world and around his neighborhood. Life handed him a new definition of happiness. Family.
His best is for them. Everything he holds dear is theirs for the asking. He gives because he is Paw. He is Dad. He became a Father and shaped the role in his way and with his strengths. His reward? Three kids that get it. Three kids that have kids that are the center of their world. Three kids that make sure family is how they make it and how they work at making it work. He sees the evidence in the grandkids. He loves his kids all the more each time he does.
Then there is his wife. Part sister. Part friend. Part pain in the ass. All wife. She stuck with him. He stuck with her. Both worked at it. Both got it right. He does not have to travel to find joy. He lives in it. His way. He is on the front of his own ship and lives the reality that he is King of the World. His ship dodged many icebergs. He enjoys the smooth sailing. He is the happy with who he turned out to be. Isn’t that what we all kinda hope for?
Happy Birthday, Billy.
Yeah. I love you. Gil.
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