HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Kenny!

Hey, soon to be birthday guy, do they have those banners like we had here (we always hung it behind the kitchen table, it now has a letter or 2 missing, but we can't stand to replace it, so it appropriately says, HAPPY BITDAY) & are you with a group preparing a special meal for all those who have a birthday on the 9th? I know your mom & those twins of ours, dad & all his buds, (that will be a fun bunch - I figure they've been placed under St. Peter's watchful eye) varied family members, special friends (hey to Carlene & Bev) & those other acquaintances from eons in the past you have had time to meet will insist on your smoked meat - I don't blame them. I know grandmother Viva will possibly bring her boiled custard that  was so larpin' good & have not to this day been able to emulate because all she ever said was it's a dash of this, a pinch of that etc. 

I thank God for the 56 birthdays you celebrated on earth & for the gazillions you will celebrate where you now reside, & just think, handsome guy, one day the rest of your earthly family, friends, loved ones who choose to will be there around that banquet table!

I have already requested to be an alto in the Heavenly Choir, hopefully close to Vestal Goodman, maybe put in a good word for me on that one.  Your actual birth date is on a Wednesday & that's always been a difficult day for me, (this makes 13 years w/o you)so I was looking at the calendar & noted this year it's on a Wed.  Great! I will be at Trinity that evening with friends we both love/d & cherish/ed so very much since we have begun our small group sessions; we eat, meet, study, have an absolute blast - the very thing/s you loved! Another answer to prayer.

I envision what would have been your 69th birthday invitation in Heaven as follows;  we will be celebrating your birthday in a home that is special because home is where you are special and loved by all and where a child wants to return to. Your cake will have one giant candle that all the children will blow out together & the Heavenly hosts/choir rendition of Happy Birthday will be beyond comprehension & the clapping will be deafening!

Afterward, you will have the meal prepared around the banquet table as promised in the Word after which you will sit around & shyly smile & receive many accolades over the wonderful meat!  

I admit that life here is often lonely without you; but I thank God that he created a beautiful thing/s called memories & the ability to know that beyond the shadow of a doubt I will have the JOY of seeing Him, you & all who await - I know you'll be on my welcoming committee when I step inside the gates of our eternal home.  

This world was a much better, richer place because of you, Kenneth Dale Rice.  By the way, thanks for the priceless gifts you left behind for me, Tammy Rene, Rhonda Suzette, Jennifer Jayla, Loyd Kenneth & theirs. As one of your namesake grandsons (Christopher Dale) said, to us you hung up your green cap too early, but to know you are free from the pain, suffering, sorrow that you had on this side & having a party makes my heart glad. You & Carlene may even be doing the boot scootin'boogie with your cowboy boots & hat, a version of "Heavenly Idol" (maybe we need another word besides idol, but we all know who our Heavenly Idol is)!  

Your name is on a headstone in Walker Cemetery  with mine beside it with the vital stats.  What it says beneath it, however, is what I love & what Annette sung at your celebration services, "May all who come behind us find us faithful".  Enjoy your birthday, celebrate, rejoice!  Put my name on your dance card, I'll see you when our Maker says, time to go get Cumi!  Forever Yours!