Josh

Six days ago, our son Josh turned 44.

Lordy, lordy am I that old!!!

Yes, of course I am.

He was sometimes tough as a teen. I sometimes tell people Josh spent his Junior year of high school abroad but forgot to leave the country.

But he was a wondrous little boy and became wondrous after his freshman year of college. He went to U. Mass., the only school he applied to and graduated with a 3.3 average after a disastrous Freshman year.

He spent a year in England, after college, on a special visa he earned, working in a pub most of that time near the Chelsey soccer stadium and became, as he does about anything he is interested in, a educated soccer fan. He's taught me so much about the game I watched every game the US played in the woman's World Cup. After Chelsey he spent a couple of months backpacking around Europe.

For a year after that, he lived with us and worked at the Benieke Rare Book Library at Yale where he became beloved by catching a guy stealing pages out of rare books.

Then he went to Brooklyn Law School and met Cathy Chen, who he married later and the two of them gave us three wondrous granddaughters--Emma, Morgan and Tegan.

He's now the youngest partner in one of the largest law firms in Baltimore and Cathy is a judge of the First Circuit of Maryland--Baltimore City--after spending a few years defending victims of sexual abuse and then being a prosecutor in Baltimore.

What a joy Josh and his family are to us.

He's much more like Bern than me, though he's an extrovert and Bern is a real introvert.

They share the same mindset, like Mimi and I do.

And it almost makes me faint with joy when I think about what Josh has meant to me and to so many.

Our children are our greatest joy--and greatest amazement.

What did we do to deserve them???

But I'm glad they are with us. So glad. Delirious, really.

Happy, Happy Birthday and Life, my dear son Joshua Dylan Bradley (after Bob Dylan, of course!)