Photo by Trent, taken while hiking
at Emerald Lake in
Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado
03/14/2009



February 1, 2005

Happy Birthday, Gord!

The 50s? That's not so long ago! (Just ask our kids!)

Well, tomorrow we'll be celebrating the birthday of someone born not just in the 50s, but in the EARLY 50s! Which is so much worse than being born in the mid-50s like me! My brother, Gord, has always been in my life. He was here when I arrived, and I've never had to do without him, although he did live far away for many years. I don't think he liked me too well to begin with. I was too little to hear him, of course, but I have it from a reliable source (our mother) that it went something like this:

When my mother brought me home from the hospital, three-year-old Gord was all excited about his new baby sister. After a few days, however, the newness wore off. The crying was probably getting to his nerves, and not only that, it seemed that there was now a new apple of his parents' eyes. Their attention wasn't something he had planned on sharing, so he said to our mother, "Mummy, you can take her back to the hospital now!" Mother, without the benefit of the child psychologists, answered, "Okay. I can take her back, but I'll have to go with her." Gord, always the brainy one, knew THAT wouldn't work, so he conceded that I could stay after all!!

Here are a few pictures, mostly from long ago, to help us celebrate his birthday and to remind us of the wonderful family we have and how much better our lives have been because Gord has been living his life with us!

Gord--the early years!
I love this picture!

Crossing the ocean on a freighter ship at any age can be pretty exciting,
but especially when you are four years old!

Here we are--Gord, Jeanette, and Carol-Ann. Oldest to youngest, here we stand in the blazing African sun, dressed in our very finest clothes! We are king, queen, and princess, and we have the TinkerToy crowns to prove it!

Brainiest one, even in the 6th grade!

No TV, movies, or malls for us growing up! No siree! In fact, we didn't really know those things existed. Our home in the middle of the African rain forest was quite secluded from all that. Here's how we spent our evenings as teenagers.
Being a rather opinionated bunch, we acknowledged Gord as the boss, but we girls sure made him earn his title! Our dad jokingly once called us "The Hodgson Quarreltette!"

About 1976 -- Jeanette, Gord, and Carol-Ann singing for friends in our church basement. And there's Mummy in the background. Might she be nervously waiting for us to get through without messing up? Or maybe she just knew the song inside-out from all our practicing!

Here's Gord enjoying Coral's enthusiasm at her 25th birthday! And now we are celebrating his. Happy birthday, Big Brother!
You truly are the best brother, and I'm so glad we live so close together.