The God Son and the God Send...Sending Happy Birthdays to Jacob Charles and Susan James @bookdealerSusan

Seven years, this red-head, children's and young adult-lit reading woman chose me as a meal partner at the Louisiana State University Young Adult Literature Conference and nothing has been the same since. Had I known that this beautiful friendship would be what it is now, I might have taken more notes about her in my 2015 blog!!! Since then, we've become regular collaborators, texters, Face-timers, Zoomers, and corresponders. More importantly, the two of us have become one another's therapists and unconditional friends.

Last summer, I had the pleasure of being hosted by Susan and her partner, Patrick, in their beautiful home in Pensacola. Lucky for me, Patrick is a bourbon drinker, and he introduced me to grilling the perfect rib-eye, which I've done ever since. Susan introduced me to the most incredible smoked tuna cracker dip (eeks...was it Tuna? I think it was) and a never-ending booklist, including Hey, Kiddo, which I read on my flight home.

Happy Birthday, Suzie Q.

It's also Mr. J.C., Jacob Charles birthday and I understand my package arrived last week (just in time for him to enjoy Nic Stone's latest book - I can't wait for the movie....are you listening Marvel...this needs to be a movie). I also can't wait for them to send me a video of Jake playing the game I sent. I'm forever 15 according to Abu and Lossine, but I also can dip lower into middle school humor, as well. It's totally a middle-school boy game and I would so be playing it with him if I lived in the area and/or be able to deliver the gifts in person.

It seems like yesterday Dave came home at 1 a.m. a I was babysitting Sean-Man to announce, "Your sister gave birth to a boxer....either the dog kind or the fighting man kind." He had this scrunched up nose and this mean look with an underbite about him. He stretched that look off, however, by the time he came home from the hospital. I was lucky to be in Syracuse when all this went down.

I was also fortunate to be a go-to babysitter during the years I was doing my doctorate, only being replaced by Chitunga when he attended LeMoyne.

Happy Birthday, Jacob Charles! Today begins the June-mester and it's back to online teaching I go!
Wishing the God Son and the God Send a very special day today. Make it GREEEAAAATTTT!