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Our great-granddaughter celebrated her first birthday recently. (Irv Erdos \/ For The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\nHow blessed are we to have a beautiful daughter who married a handsome young gentleman responsible for developing a highly successful business?<\/p>\n
They presented us with three fabulous grandchildren, including beautiful twin girls and a handsome young boy.<\/p>\n
In addition, they lived only blocks away making our frequent visits both easy and memorable.<\/p>\n
One day, however, they decided to move to Montana.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s where, as a child, our future son-in-law, together with mom and dad and four brothers, visited during the summers. It\u2019s beautiful country with friendly people and distinct seasons.<\/p>\n
He convinced our daughter to move there where they built a home and raised their children.<\/p>\n
Eventually, their kids were old enough to have families of their own, happily settling near their parents.<\/p>\n
Our daughter and son-in-law eventually wound up purchasing a beautiful home on the ninth green of a fabulous golf course.<\/p>\n
The views are spectacular, their business is thriving, and they\u2019re a happy couple enjoying a wonderful life.<\/p>\n
Regrettably, they\u2019re two flights and over a 1,000 miles away, so we don\u2019t get to see them as often as we\u2019d like.<\/p>\n
Or their children.<\/p>\n
Or the great-grandkids.<\/p>\n
It seems like only yesterday our daughter was a sweet young toddler, happily enjoying life together with us.<\/p>\n
Now, she\u2019s a grandmother.<\/p>\n
Living far away.<\/p>\n
Thankfully, our two sons, together with their five young children, live only a few miles from us.<\/p>\n
It means a drive of just minutes for our visits, as opposed to a taxi to the airport and two flights to see our daughter and the rest of our family.<\/p>\n
Although distant, it means our visits are all the more memorable.<\/p>\n
Our great-granddaughter celebrated her first birthday recently. (Irv Erdos \/ For The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n
We just got home after a lovely stay at their beautiful home where we celebrated our great-granddaughter\u2019s first birthday.<\/p>\n
Also the seventh birthday of our great-grandson.<\/p>\n
There were two separate parties with some 30 friends and family at each.<\/p>\n
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A homemade cake for our great-granddaughter\u2019s first birthday. (Irv Erdos \/ For The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n
We made two birthday cakes. I did the baking and my wife added her gifted decorator skills.<\/p>\n
One was a chocolate cake with whipped cream and fresh fruit, and the other was a multi-layered so-called \u201cDobos Torta\u201d a favorite of my Hungarian family.<\/p>\n
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A homemade cake for our great-grandson\u2019s seventh birthday. (Irv Erdos \/ For The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n
My wife also prepared several dinners including baked ziti with meatballs and sausages, while I prepared my specialty \u2014 homemade bagels: sesame, poppyseed and cinnamon-raisin, enjoyed at breakfasts and several lunches.<\/p>\n
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Irv Erdos\u2019 specialty: bagels. (Irv Erdos \/ For The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n
Coincidentally, Bobby, my friend of nearly eight decades, also settled in the same town as our daughter. There, they all enjoy a quiet and tranquil life.<\/p>\n
As young kids, Bobby and I became fast friends as we lived in the same apartment house in the so-called \u201cRockaways,\u201d an area located near the beach in busy Queens County, N.Y.<\/p>\n
Now, by sheer coincidence, he and his wife, along with my daughter and her family, are living in the same town, just minutes apart, in peaceful Bozeman, Mont.<\/p>\n
What are the odds?<\/p>\n
So we never fail to also get together with him and his bride each time we visit.<\/p>\n
Only yesterday, we were a family of three: our young daughter, my wife and me.<\/p>\n
A short period later, add two sons, eight grandchildren and five greats.<\/p>\n
It seems the older one gets, the quicker times flies.<\/p>\n
Life is indeed short.<\/p>\n
But wonderful.<\/p>\n