On this day, the love of my life was born.
I am eternally grateful he is here, that we met in what I will always see as a miracle, and that we are on this adventure together.
You all know him.
He is the kindest man I know. The most compassionate and loving. Wildly talented. Insanely funny. Honest and true blue. He makes me weak in the knees. He makes me laugh so hard I have to beg him to stop. He helps others every day. He listens. His adventurous nature has made me more adventurous. He is loved by everyone he meets.
That he came my way and stayed is a blessing I acknowledge every day.
That he puts up with my insecurities and fears and all the versions of “Don Lee Sparks” that I routinely sing to him is a gift.
He’s a good guy. He makes a real difference in people’s lives.
He sure did in mine.
Happy Birthday to the love of my life, Don Sparks.
And Happy Birthday to Little Z, who turns 9 today. We love you, buddy!
Stay safe.
Happy Wednesday.
Good Morning,
To love and be loved what a gift. Don’s character was revealed so clearly when he gave one of the disinfectant wipes to a stranger. Thinking of the greater good and not just his own needs. That gesture made me cry then and now. He is one of those people who make you want to be a better person.
You are a smart and charming couple and I would be remiss if I did not wish Don a Happy Birthday and may all your wishes come true.
Take Care,
Kaye
Awww. So sweet. Happy Birthday Don Lee Sparks! You are a firework, for sure. ✨
He is definitely a keeper… Happy Birthday Don!
Happy Birthday to Don and Little Buddy! Wishing them a joyous day! So glad you share them with us! Thanks!
Beautiful tribute to a great guy! Happy birthday to Don and Little Z! :)
Happy Birthday Don. Hope you two celebrate somehow! 🎁🎉🎶🎂🎈😊
Happy Birthday! Have a wonderful day!
Happy Birthday Don! I hope your special day is filled with everything you love.
Happy Birthday Don and Little Buddy! To love and be loved is one of the greatest gifts ever.
Happy birthday to Don and little Z!
Happy Birthday to Don and your little nephew! Hope you have a wonderful day!
Happy birthday to Don and Little Z. So special they share a birth date.
Happy Birthday Don! Happy Birthday Little Z! Wishing you both the happiest of days!! ;)
Happy, Happy Birthday to Don and Little Z! You both are definitely bright stars in this world!
Hip-hip-hooray – Happy Birthday, Don and Little Z. Always a wonderful treat to see you both.
Continue well.
Un anniversaire est l’un des jours les plus importants de l’année – que le tien soit rempli de la lumière de la vie et de grands éclats de rire. Bon anniversaire!
This is so very beautiful, Claudia. The hard thing about writing words about someone who is truly wonderful, truly a gift to the world is when do you know how to stop? When is it that teeny bit too much over the top, diluting the raw, real feeling of it.
How do you do it? How do you write just the perfect piece — not a word too much or too less, although I suspect you could probably go on and on for pages.
I will also add that I suspect it’s hard to be that terrific for so many years with one person if the other isn’t delivering too. That’s you, my friend. It takes two for one to be the best he or she can be. So while I send big, huge, warm happy birthday wishes to Don from the bottom of my heart, I also give a nod to you, for being there for him during all these times and no doubt more.
for now, a quick-yet-sincere “happy birthday, don!” and the hope that you both have a great, easy, safe day.
hope to get back here later today (i don’t have any news … am just sneaking in here while at work so don’s birthday doesn’t slip by).
kathy in iowa
Happiest of birthdays to Don and to Little Z. What a fun day to share!!
with apologies to little z for not saying this in my first comment today .. “happy birthday”!
(just in a hurry for being at work).
kathy in iowa
Happy Birthday, Don and Little Buddy! May you have many more ahead. And Claudia, thanks for sharing yourself and Don with us.
Happy Birthday to Don…what a darling picture. I love hearing about how you met…happy day for your nephew…brendab
Happy Birthday! May the year ahead continue to be filled with love, laughter and music.
Happy Birthday Don! And Little Z too! Enjoy each blessing this special day brings!
Claudia, the love you and Don share is a treasure that so many have only wondered about!
Happy birthday to your special boys!
An aside. Maybe I shouldn’t make other commentary to take away from Don’s birthday.
But I’m feeling alarmed. Warning bells. Back to being almost as scared as I was in early March. I’m in Southern California and we are NOT in good shape with the Covid numbers. My county is one of the ones … what should I say, my TOWN is … beset with discouraging virus tallies. I was beginning to feel a letting-down (tiny bit) of my guard because I want to physically shop in a favorite store for a favorite product-offering in July. Not now. I’m not going ‘out there’ if I can possibly help it. Even the Texas governor is now saying, “Stay home.” This, after people I personally know (some to whom I’m related) in the Dallas area, were scarfing down delish food/BBQ on Father’s Day weekend in two separate restaurants (just are not demonstrating any further individual discipline, patience and caution, and they most ALL have co-morbidities for complications from the virus if they get it).
In yet another state where numbers are jumping, my brother-in-law and his wife are back to eating out three meals a day in restaurants (as I’ve often remarked, I have no idea how they afford it, but they don’t eat at expensive places; still, it adds up, and this is a bad economy [and they both have troubling underlying health issues which Covid loves to latch onto; it’s not so much about the food or servers in these eating establishments, rather to how much they further expose themselves simply being out & about in a Covid world, but also in the ‘company’ of other diners {and you just have to hope that in small-town eateries, they’ve done everything they’re supposed to when sanitizing and disinfecting, upgrading their filtration systems for circulation of air, etc.}]).
Read this: “California reported an additional 7,149 Covid-19 cases since Tuesday, a 69% increase in two days, bringing the state’s total to 190,222 cases, according to the state’s health department. The previous highest day jump was reported on Tuesday when the state recorded 5,019 additional new cases. California is one of 30 states where case numbers are growing by 5% or more based on a seven-day average, a CNBC analysis of data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. The state’s seven-day average of new Covid-19 cases increased nearly 46% compared with a week ago, according to Hopkins data.”
And the experts are saying it doesn’t have to do with testing now; it’s simply that this many more people are sick. How can we expect anything different? In my SoCalif neighborhood alone, and that’s a 50-house tract; true, I don’t get out much to see it with all ‘my own eyes’ but, from the safety/boundary of my property, I see enough; and it’s people not masking up. They have company/guests; they gather. Not distancing. (My husband does get around the block when he walks the dog; he says it’s no diff from what I see from my perch at the house.) As I’d mentioned on another thread here, bordering-on-large Father’s Day gathering next door, overflowing from inside the house and into the yard. (I would say, easily 30 people minimum. And these are SMALL, boxy, not-custom houses, nearly all the same; feels crowded indoors with ‘way, ‘way fewer people than that.) But I sound like a broken record because this is nothing new. It’s people who’ve never adhered to any of the guidelines for Covid-19.
All my husband and I can figure is that they possibly WANT to get the virus to develop immunity/get antibodies ahead of a vaccine (although other experts have said you can’t be guaranteed anything beyond 3-4 months of immunity after being infected with the virus; they just don’t know enough yet about this particular coronavirus). What other reason would be apparent with the lack of distancing and lack of mask-wearing except pure stupidity and extreme selfishness? (Like another expert said, “Until they get the virus and then give it to their grandmother, who then dies, only then will it resonate.” [A bad and heartbreaking consequence to their irresponsible actions. Have they considered that they’d actually be responsible for the death of someone, especially a loved one? Do they want that on their shoulders for the rest of their lives? Can they live with themselves knowing what they did? Do they ever take a second or a minute to even think about that?])
I mean, it’s really just staggering, like in ‘stunning’ or ‘shocking’. I heard a guy on TV (has written a book about how to cope in a time with/era of virus, and I think it was targeted to parents with children as a helpful guide) who was born in 1944 and he said, with polio (in his own childhood), “We were CAREFUL.” Americans young and old abided by all advisements. What was good and better for themselves but, importantly, what was also good and better for others. A collective effort to do the right thing, the whole time, never letting up on their intent and commitment to the cause. If the growing concern, back in that day, was to stay out of swimming pools in summer, they didn’t go swimming; that sort of thing. Not easy for a kid who just wanted to have vacay fun; but they were obedient about it. Fast-forward 70 years later, what has happened to some of us, to be so NOT careful in a serious, deadly epidemic? It’s not just staggering, it’s tragic.
Had to get that off my chest. Thanks. (My MHC comments didn’t stay short for long enough, did they.)
This virus is a heavy weight. Burdensome. It’s a shame that everybody’s not on board so that we could smother it instead of letting the virus cluster and then break out to these terrifying numbers. Again.
Too many lives lost. And more to follow.
Let me also add my wishes for a Happy Birthday to Don.
You have brought me to tears several times the last few days. First, this post, such a beautiful celebration of your love for Don. And yesterday’s, the story of how you met — almost missing each other and when you finally meet you jut know. And, yes, it is amazing how that happens. I can remember the date I first laid eyes on my future husband on a small college campus. Turns out he’d already spent an entire semester of grad school there and we’d never crossed paths once. After interning in DC and NYC, he came back to finish his MBA. And that’s the day we met. His first day back, January 3, 1983. It was my first day in a new position, new office, new building and he was going to be a graduate assistant there. If I hadn’t taken that new job, we probably never would have met.
And finally your moving Instagram post the other day about the candy box full of letters between your grandmother and her younger sister who died during the 1918 pandemic. She died the year my dad was born, at the tail end of it. My own maternal grandmother lost a toddler in 1918 and an infant in 1919. So many so young died during that terrible time never to be forgotten by those who loved them and mourned them the rest of their lives.
Thanks for sharing these stories with us.
Kay
Happy, Happy Birthday Don and Little Z! How wonderful that these two can share this day.
such a special love you have.
happy birthday you beautiful and talented Don Sparks!
and one of your talents is in finding and keeping your amazing little wife!
and to beloved little Buddy… Happy Birthday! don’t grow up too soon! xoxo
Happy Birthday to both Don and Little Z!
Sorry I’m a day late but Happy Birthday to Don and Little Buddy (Z). I hope both of their days were wonderful despite everything that’s going on.