Thursday, August 12, 2010

Vive Le Difference, Aug 12

The thing about family problems
is that you never have to wait long
before the next one
puts the previous one 
into perspective. 
~Robert Brault

Hello Shepard Family and Friends,

Greetings from San Diego to all of you wherever you may be, as we journey through these dog days of summer.

Happy 30th Birthday! Today is the birthday of Jeremy Ortiz of Spring Valley, California. Jeremy is one of the Ggrandchildren of Will and Bura Shepard, and Terry and Thelma Boyd's oldest grandchild.

The picture above shows Jeremy with his Ggrandmother Bura Davis Shepard back in 1982. The picture below shows Jeremy with his mother Kim Clark earlier this year. Congratulations to Jeremy on turning 30!

Happy 17th! Happy Birthday this coming Monday, August 16, to Russ and Pam's daughter Linda Shepard of Anacortes, Washington. Linda is another one of the Ggrandchildren of Will and Bura, and is Maida Shepard's youngest grandchild. 

Linda has a job this summer as a housekeeper at the Marina Inn in Anacortes and is pretty excited about her upcoming senior year at Anacortes High School. In particular she is looking forward to English and Photography. Unfortunately she'll have to work on her birthday but then she plans to party with her friends. The third picture shows Linda, surrounded by school mates who were all celebrating "Purple Days" at their school.

On the Subject of Birthdays. Two weeks ago I made reference to the birthday of "our esteemed president Barrack Obama." It seemed like an innocent reference at the time. But I should have known better.

One of you responded and said, "Don't esteem the pres for me." Plus a few other choice words. Another reader forwarded me an email with one of those urban legends intended to belittle the man in the White House (which, alas, has always been a favorite American pastime).

These responses got my attention, of course, and were worth a few laughs. But they also illustrate how diverse our family really is. It always has been and it always will be. Not just politically, but in many other ways as well. But that is what makes family life exciting, and keeps us on our toes. As they say, "Vive le difference."

By the way, I should have been more "on my toes" when I referred to our (somewhat) esteemed President's birthday. I got the date wrong. He was actually born August 4, 1961, just a few months before our esteemed Kim Clark (see picture above).
- - -
Steve

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