The Birthday Boy

By the time you read this Ol’ Dutch will be in the middle of a birthday celebration. Yep, you got that right, no matter what time you are reading this, I will be in the middle of a birthday celebration. For you see for quite some time now we have been having Birthday Weeks whereby the lucky honored person gets to celebrate another year on this planet for an entire week.

And if you do a little checking, we may just be having the Ol’ Dutch special celebratory Root Beer Floats at the campground where I will be staying this summer and fall seasons. Miss Trixie will be hosting like you've never seen done anywhere else in your life and we may even squeeze a cake out of her with candles to boot.

Now Ol’ Dutch has been around the proverbial block and part of the next neighborhood over too so we have had to kind of limit the number of candles on said cake, otherwise we would need a permit from the local fire department to light it. And being new and fresh to the high altitude on Thursday, Ol’ Dutch probably could not blow out that many candles anyway without stopping for a drag off of Aunt June’s oxygen tank.

Now for those of you planning to get me a gift, all I can say is no gift can be too large.

And since this is a magic milestone in my life, I expect my twin brother from a different mother Wild Bill and his wife Miss Dolly to really come through with something phenomenal. I mean something more than the usual key chain from Big Tom’s National Bank that he usually gives me. Although those are darned nice and sell well at our annual garage sale. Maybe he will go big and get me an ashtray from the Hyatt Regency in Jasper Texas? Ya think?

And then there is our dear friends Gidget and Moon Doggy who will most likely have us up for supper sometime and then her and Miss Trixie will trounce me and Moon Doggy good in a game of Sequence. You would think they would let me win at least on my birthday and not totally emasculate me like usual? No? Yeah, I was afraid of that.

Betty Boop always shows up for said celebration and Suzie Q and her ole buddy Rascally Roy have been mainstays every year since moving to Colorado. They are the dearest of friends and are always good for a great story, a tight hug and good fellowship all the way around. Which is exactly what I want.

And this year I plan on really going all out and just be plain thankful for all that God has provided me, the great friends that He gave me and the places He has taken me. For it was not too long ago that life seemed like it was over for Ol’ Dutch but I was to find out that God had a plan in mind, and He took me by the hand and led me exactly where I needed to go. Well, more like drug me along.

Most certainly meeting Miss Trixie was a miracle as we would never in a million years have met under normal circumstances yet here we are getting ready to celebrate five wonderful years together. Not bad, since we’ve been together nine years, so we’re batting over .500.

All kidding aside, which is darn near impossible for Ol’ Dutch, I have been blessed and the Bible verse comes to mind that says “That which was meant to destroy you God will turn around for your good” is most certainly the case with me.

So, if things are trying and you find yourself in a struggle in life, always remember, it could be worse. You could be stuck with me like Miss Trixie.

Kevin Kirkpatrick and his Yorkie, Cooper, fish, hunt, ATV or hike daily. His email is [email protected]. Additional news can be found atwww.troutrepublic.comor on Twitter at TroutRepublic.