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.
And then… were they actually considering buying it??? I was truly mortified. “But I really want it,” said Sue. “You don’t know how hard it is for my short little legs to find a chair that’s comfortable — a chair that I can sit in and have both feet on the floor. And, in this case, maybe even rock a bit!”
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.
When Happy Kitty died after a long (was he 19?) and contented life, Charlie knew that eventually he would get another kitten. He has always had two at a time and Lupe, who is six, might miss her “brother.”
Meanwhile, Lupe, who has been with Charlie since she was even younger than Rosencrantz, was less than pleased. When, finally, Charlie reported: Rosencrantz came out and alternately runs around, then hides again. Lupe is hissing at me! I’ve betrayed her! And still later, (in a bit of a panic), Lupe is crying! Real tears!
