Guess what, it’s not that bad!
I gave a little preview a few weeks ago to an upcoming day—my 60th birthday.
Last week the big day came and passed, followed by the biggest party my family has ever thrown for me which was held on Saturday night.
My three daughters were the ones who collaborated to throw the party and were assisted by very good friends to my wife and I, Robert and Pam Deese, who hosted the event.
As I got out of the car and headed for the front door, I was quickly greeted by a huge sign in the front yard, lit up quite well that said, “Happy 60th Kevin!”
That immediately had me wondering what the evening would leave me feeling like, since it certainly slapped me right in the face with the very clear message, “Hey buddy, you are now 60 YEARS OLD!!”
As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I’ve always been just fine with this age thing. I’m a fortunate guy with a great family, wonderful opportunity to head our local newspapers, and good health. So as most folks go, I’m a very blessed man.
But I admitted that the idea of “60,” did hit me a bit since it seems that I was clearly walking away from any remnant of feeling like I was still a young guy.
But back to the party.
From the time I walked onto the front porch, stepped inside the house, walked out back to a beautifully decorated back yard, I felt like the luckiest guy ever. Wow, I thought, someone did this all for me?
And that was just from seeing the wonderful decorations, great food provided by my friends Allen and Kathy Little at Chateau Bleu, and an incredible cake made by Sierra with her new business in Slidell, Sugar Love Cakes.
The evening kicked off and almost seemed like a blur as many friends began to show, both personally and in my time working with our newspaper. As one person after another showed up at the door, it truly left me feeling like I was a pretty special guy. We all want to think we have true, sincere friends and that evening left me knowing that beyond a shadow of a doubt.
It was such fun to stand at the door and chat with so many wonderful friends—some who were family, some who I have become close through the paper, and other political leaders I have covered through the newspaper that have become good friends as well.
And that wasn’t all of it. Obviously you can’t pick any night for a party without knowing there will always be conflicts for others, and I had been receiving Happy Birthday messages on Facebook for about a week, with somewhere over 150 of them the last time I checked, many who apologized for having other plans but still wishing me the best.
My wife is always one to find interesting party items online and she managed to purchase some crazy, fiery, exploding missile kind of candles for the cake, and thank goodness they somehow never ruined the beautiful cake Sierra made. And let me add that while the cake was truly special to look it, it was one of the best cakes we all had eaten. If you would have seen my girls fighting over the leftovers for the next two days you would have understood that without a doubt.
I was also touched by the generosity of one couple who will forever be among our closest friends. Pam and Robert Deese immediately wanted to host this party when my daughters asked, and we all know that is no little thing to open up your house to over dozens of people you have never met.
But that kind of generosity was no surprise since they invited me to live in their vacant upstairs bedroom when I first started The Slidell Independent and had been commuting for over a year from LaPlace, just to operate the paper. When they learned I was doing that almost every day they immediately insisted I use their house as if it were mine. That’s what I call a real giving heart.
Then there were people like Mayor Freddy Drennan and his wife Glenda, two true friends, with Freddy taking yet one more night to go to a public event and give me a proclamation from the city on my birthday!
I loved getting to see John and Gilda Perkins, along with Debbie Simmons, since we are part of the original Slidell Sentry-News team who worked together as far back as the 1970s.
Two of my new friends since starting the paper showed how much we have common interests when Len Snyder gave me a San Francisco Giants baseball hat in commemoration of winning the World Series again, while Chuck Sabadie gave me a CD about “The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time.”
I know my wife will warn me against mentioning a few people and not everyone who came, so hopefully nobody minds me doing that, but I wanted to tell a few stories to show how nice so many people were to me.
I seemed to blink and we had been there four hours and the crowd headed home, leaving me with a great feeling that maybe I’ve done a few things to deserve so many nice friends. It reminded me how much we all appreciate such love and friendship from others—both family and simply friends—and it will forever be a night I will think about with the greatest memories ever.
Kevin Chiri can be reached by e-mail at kevinchiri@gmail.com.