HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHARLIE!
Did you know that I got to choose the day we met, Charlie? About the middle of May, the doctor said, “Any day now, I’ll expect your call, Mrs. Howell.” But you seemed content to stay where you were. Then, toward the end of the month, I was told that you were getting too big for your allotted space and we would have to “induce” your entrance to the world. I was a bit upset about that until the Dr. said, “What day would you like for this baby’s birthday?”
“Really? Wow!” I thought. That seemed to put a whole new spin on things and since May 30th was a holiday (and I thought it always would be) I said, “How about next Wednesday?” And so it was that you were born on Wednesday, May 30, 1956!
However, I do believe I went to the Redwood City Hospital about 8:00 o’clock in the morning on Tuesday the 29th. I don’t know if the doctor had forewarned me or if I just realized that you were going to continue to take your time, even when urged. I remember asking if I could speak to the doctor sometime that afternoon and was told that he was on the golf course. I think I was a bit anxious about that…
Daddy Morgan, Son Charlie, Mommy Sydney
But he arrived in time to introduce us at 8:30 in the morning on May 30th and we had a whole glorious holiday to get to know each other! You would have 15 years of your birthday always being a holiday and then… well sometimes it is and sometimes it isn’t. Once in a while it’s even part of a three-day weekend!
Whenever it is, Charlie my son, it is always the best day of the year for me! Many, many happy returns!
Proud Mom (that’s me) wants you to know that son Charlie Howell is in a film which can now be seen on Amazon Prime! In it he plays himself and co-star, Maurice LaMarche plays the late Gordon Bressack who, in real life was Charlie’s writing partner for 30 years. The film, based on a script by Gordon, was directed by his son James Cullen Bressack. As one critic said: “… a genre-fluid film-within-a-film is a monstrously meta memorial to the director’s father.
It all put me in mind of the days of my childhood when we had a crank phone in the kitchen and all long distance calls went through the switchboard operator in Ilwaco. I don’t know what time the “exchange” closed down for the night — maybe 11 p.m. — but I’d be willing to bet that if there was an emergency, there was a way to get through — even if it was a midnight drive in the Model A to roust J.A. Howerton, owner of the Ilwaco Telephone & Telegraph Company.
There are two areas in this house that I have considered the most important ever since I was a very little girl. First is the library where we gather in front of the fireplace, especially in the late afternoons, to visit and catch up with our days — past and present. And second is the dining room where we do the same thing except with the addition of food.
Discussions are lively, non-stop, and cover every imaginable subject. Sometimes everyone is involved in one gigantic exchange. Or there might be two or three separate conversations taking place — sometimes on the same or, more often, on unrelated subjects. No topics seem to be off-limits and all of us seem to have something to say about whatever is under discussion. Which reminds me that I’ve always been told that the Espys come in two varieties — the loquacious and the taciturn. I’m here to tell you, there’s not a quiet one among this group. Except Nyel. Who, after all, is technically not an Espy…
They were a little droopy on arrival but came with perking-up powder and by this morning looked quite revived. I decided to combine them into one huge, colorful bouquet which I’ve placed on the dining table where all the blooms are calling out to anyone listening, “Look at us! Look at us!”
