Since Brian is celebrating his 102nd birthday, I thought I would make this post as tribute to him. Actually he’s only 72 but when you get that old, what’s a few years anyway? Brian met my sister through the internet about 13 years ago. He was living in Puerto Rico and she was living in Oregon. He flew to Oregon to meet us – yes we had to approve – and the rest ,as they say, is history.
We weren’t certain we would recognize Brian at the airport but he did tell us to look for the fella with big ears. Boy he was NOT kidding.
We didn’t know a lot about Brian at the time. We knew he was a retired army major and that he had a college degree. But he wanted to go back to school and living in a college town such as Eugene, Oregon presented him with that opportunity. He was well into his 60’s when he graduated the University of Oregon with a degree in Archeology. We understand his love of digging in the dirt went WAAY back so I suppose it was a natural field of study for him.
He looked a little befuddled went the University sent him on his first official dig.
Of course, being an alum of such a storied institution as the University of Oregon, Brian jumped wholeheartedly into being the best Duck fan ever.
We traveled to San Diego a few years back to see the Ducks play in the Holiday Bowl and while we were there we ran into one of Brian’s relatives.
Do you see the resemblance? We met another of his relatives while on a trip up the McKenzie River a couple of years ago.
In 2007, we traveled to Arizona and ended up in Tombstone one day. I’m not sure who was more aghast at this chance meeting.
Brian tried to pick up one of the local ladies in Tombstone, but Laila told him he would wind up back at Boot Hill if he didn’t knock it off.
Brian is the one who thought up some of the planking stunts while we were in Reno together last July. You can read about that little adventure here.
I could go on and on about the fun times we have had with Brian and Laila. He was definitely a positive addition to my sister’s life and we have more memories and fun photos than I have room in this blog, so with that I’ll just say “Thank You, Brian, for the fun times and for being a part of the family. Happy Birthday.”
Hang in there Brian – 73 is only 365 days away.
