Happy Birthday J!

Today is J’s birthday! She’s put together a really nice post today about our trip to San Francisco yesterday, so go read (and see) and can then come back for some photos from J’s past. Don’t worry, I’ll wait.

Okay, on with the the photos…

This first photo is when J was a baby. That’s her mom (Known to the bloggy world as “Maya’s Granny”), and that’s her older brother, Richard — but I think at that time he was known by his childhood nickname, “Tad.”

Okay, this next one is (obviously) a few years later when J was 13. That’s her best friend, Neva, on the right.

And here’s J and Neva at J’s 40th b-day last year!

When J and I started going out, one of the first treasured possessions was her “son,” Smokey the Bear. We still have him, and he sits on the bedside table on J’s side. I’m guessing this was J’s room before she moved to San Francisco since there are an quite a few horse pictures on the wall. 🙂

This is “Jelly,” J’s first car! After we started going out, my oldest brother offered to do the work on replacing Jelly’s engine a year after she blew it out on an ill-fated trip over the Altamont Pass from San Francisco to Stockton. Sadly, J didn’t have the money to buy a new engine, so Jelly was eventually sold. 🙁

Months after moving to San Francisco, J met her father for the first time, and in January she flew up to Portland to meet him and her sisters! This photo was taken in 1988, I believe.

Great America (circa, 1988). I have no idea who that “tourist” is on J’s right.

In the summer of 1989, J and I went camping in Utah. This is the start of a long hike on one of the trails at Arches National Park. Before this hike, for some reason the two of us were fighting. Nothing serious, just a some small sniping over something stupid. This was the post make-up shot!

Halfway there! Taking a break in the shade.

Portland, Or (1991). This was the second trip the two of us took up there to see J’s Dad and sisters. Portland usually has pretty mild summers, but I think the day this photo was taken was unusually hot for Portland (90 degrees or so).
Fast forward 2 years! This was J’s bachelorette/swim party in 1993. J’s in the middle, and to her left is her (long estranged) friend Leslie. To her right is J’s other friend, Janet. She met both these lovely women in a French class at Delta Community College in Stockton. Janet and J are still great friends, but don’t really see each other all that much since Janet now lives in NYC. As for Leslie…who knows where she is???
J and her mom on our wedding day (7/3/93).

Then, I got accepted to the American Civilization grad program at the University of Pennsylvania in 1994, and whisked J away to Philadelphia. But before we left, her co-workers at the Parc 55 Hotel in San Francisco threw her a very nice going away party at the hotel.

And then in 1996, our daughter Maya was born!

10 years later, J’s celebrating her 40th at in Walnut Creek!

And one more with me, Maya, J, and J’s dad…

And then yesterday (“Birthday Eve”), we went to San Francisco to visit a few places. Here J’s with some mafia-looking dude. 😉

Happy Birthday Sweetheart!

–PK

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