Uncle Joe

John and Gillian's grandma (my mom) is retiring after teaching at St. Denis School in Manasquan for the past 24 years. Today the PTA hosted a retirement luncheon to celebrate her retirement. My older sister Trish helped to plan the luncheon as well as worked to put together a scrapbook full of past students memories of my mom. We arrived and were surprised to see Uncle Joe. Gillian has never met her Uncle Joe before. She was a little shy at first. I think he reminded her of Uncle Bob and she is a little afraid of Uncle Bob. Anyway, Uncle Joe and John hit it off right away. Uncle Joe asked John about how fast he could run. That was all John needed. He told Uncle Joe "it's not the shoes that make me fast. It's my feet!" John also challenged Uncle Joe to a race. "I'll show you how fast I am!" John ran ban and forth in the cafeteria to demonstrate his speed for Uncle Joe.

Grandma arrived and was very surprised. She was also very excited to see Uncle Joe. Aunt Trish had a nice speech prepared and the students made a beautiful PowerPoint. Overall it was a wonderful luncheon to celebrate her 24 years of service to St. Denis.

After the luncheon we all went back to Grandma's house. John immediately challenged Uncle Joe to a race. He stood at the top of the driveway and said "I'll race you to the bottom." Before Uncle Joe was ready to go, John started down the driveway. John, of course, one that race and the next one just like that. Uncle Joe suggested that they run down the driveway and around the house. Just like that Uncle Joe and John were off. They came around the side of the house and were neck and neck. John got to the sidewalk and tripped and fell. Uncle Joe won the race and John got a scraped knee. John was not too happy about the loss, but he did say for the rest of the day "I won two races."

Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of the kids with Uncle Joe. I will, however, never forget the look on John's face when we told him it was time to go. He was so sad. He wanted to stay and play with his cousins and Uncle Joe.

Thanks for coming Uncle Joe! We love you!