Who Invited All These Tacky People?

In the years when we lived in Oakland, when all the "Pinata people" lived close by and when our kids grew up as extended family to one another, we were always gathered at one person's house or another, sometimes just to eat, sometimes overnight.

I think it was Char who found the pillow case and gave it to Michele. We got a lot of laughs over it, hauling it from one place to the next, as it seemed appropriate.

When Michele and Richard sold their house in Oakland and moved into the Sierra foothills, somehow the pillowcase was lost and has been lost for years.

Today we showed up at Richard's house to help celebrate his 80th birthday and there was the pillowcase hanging on the wall. His son had found it packed away in a box. How happy Michele would have been to know it was back in the family again!

It was a gala celebration. About 60 people were invited and not too many fewer than that showed up. There were memories of Richard's 60th birthday when everyone, including his 80 year old mother and the stripper they hired to entertain, wore the nose and glasses that made us all look like Richard.

(Char was pleased that with her granddaughter donning a nose and glasses, the tradition had passed to another generation.)

There were 3 cakes, arranged to look like the #80...

...with 80 candles lit by son Eric (on the right) with the assistance of a friend

As for us, we (Char, Mike, Walt and me) had brought Richard a gift from Russia.

(there's a little bottle of vodka hidden inside that
little figure of Stalin!)

We had such a good time and were so pleased that Ned was able to come with us.

The only person missing was Michele.

Sigh.