Happy Birthday DAD

A great man is turning 60 today! Yep, Ray McQuivey is 60 years old, hard to believe.


Unfortunately due to all of my photos being on my laptop and my laptop being on the fritz, I have no photos to share, but I have one of the best dads around and I hope he has a great day!


My grandma shared with me a little of the story of his birth:


There was a really bad storm that night (day?), and most everything was closed. This was grandma's fourth pregnancy, and she knew she was having twins. In those days they didn't know the gender, and she was hoping for twin girls, as she had 3 little boys at home.


When her labor started, it went very fast. Because of road conditions, when they called the doctor he said he would come out to their home instead of having them drive to the hospital. He took a taxi to the house, and could see that her labor was far advanced. She would have delivered there at home except that one of the twins (my dad) was breech. They went to the hospital in the taxi, and shortly afterwards she had the first little twin, my dad.


She was seriously disappointed that it wasn't a girl. She told the doctor that he could have that one (he said that would be great!) and hopefully the other was a girl.


Well, the other one wasn't a girl, it was my uncle Roy.


According to grandma (I think she's joking, but she says she's serious) she really would have turned these two little boys over had it not been for my grandpa. She did give my dad the middle initial "G" after the doctor (although I can't remember what the doctor's name was exactly).


Needless to say, she did bring two little baby boys home and raised a lovely family of 5 wonderful boys. Today she says that she doesn't regret keeping them after all. :-) Happy birthday dad and Uncle Roy! (I can't believe they are 60!) I know grandma cannot believe her babies are 60 years old!


My dad is awesome. He's really funny in his dry-humor sort of way. He is so loving towards his kids and grandkids and we all know that he would do anything for us. He's a person who chooses the right and leads by example.


The thing I remember the most is how "hands-on" my dad was. He was always involved in what we were doing, and he took time to play with us and talk with us. He still does that, especially with the grandkids. I loved it this summer when he spent time tossing a ball to my girls so they could learn to play baseball. That must have been so boring for him to sit there and throw the ball over and over, but they were having a blast so he stayed there and did it. That's just the kind of guy he is.


Almost 20 years ago, he had a major heart attack and later another one, followed by bypass surgery. Nearly losing him then makes him all the more important to us now.

We made a video for his birthday, but unfortunately have not burned it to DVD yet. I had the girls share their favorite memory of grandpa, and here is what they said:


Morgan said that she loved it when we were in Utah last Christmas and we went hiking with grandma and grandpa, and grandpa slipped away for a minute and suddenly a fairy had visited a hollow tree with a treasure chest! Of course they knew the "fairy" was grandpa, but they played along and loved getting into the treasure box to see what was there for them.


They loved going to grandma and grandpa's property this summer and seeing how nice they have made their place. They loved standing on the bridge with grandpa and all the cousins and taking a picture.


They said it was fun when grandpa came to visit us in Louisiana, and going on the swamp tour with him.


Mostly they just love playing at grandpa and grandma's house. There are many more fun things to do there than at our house!


Perhaps it's a tribute to my dad that when the girls sang happy birthday on the video, they felt comfortable being totally wacky and singing the "you belong in the zoo" version, complete with actions and animal calls. You can't do that with just anybody!


We love you dad/grandpa and hope that you have a wonderful birthday! Sure wish we could be there to help celebrate, but hopefully we'll be able to come this summer and enjoy your 40th anniversary with you and mom. Thanks for all you do for us - and Ashlyn wants to say do not eat too much cake and get fat. :-)