The Castaway Hotel: Next Generation - 7. Celebrations

Kevin and Vinnie greeted us when we returned home. They hadn’t gone with us, because Kevin had to work and Vinnie didn’t want to go without him. When Danny and Brandon arrived home later, we also did the same for them, because they also had to work. I was sorry they hadn’t been able to join us, but we filled them in about what we had done and then spent the remainder of Friday resting up.

Saturday, however, was a different story. Some of my other children were also planning to be here, because their older siblings were going to be here until Sunday with their families. Since it isn’t often that all of the older siblings and their families are here at the same time, the boys (well young men actually) felt they should take advantage of this rare event. Dustin and Cole were the first to arrive with their girlfriends, Katie and Beth, because they lived locally. I was busy chatting with them when a few more people walked into the room. I glanced over to see who it was and was shocked to see Pat, Duck and Jennifer walking toward me.

“I didn’t expect to see you again so soon,” I told them, “especially since you were all here for the Fourth.”

“Hey, I’m only in Pittsburgh and it isn’t that far away,” Pat replied. “Besides, I heard there was going to be some sort of a party here.”

“You did?” I asked, somewhat surprised by this news.

“Yes. Frankie called and said he was going to be here to see Michael, Marie and Elizabeth and their families.” Pat stated, followed by a momentary pause. “Oh yeah, and Robert too,” he added, while giving Robert a devilish smirk. I think I noticed Robert giving him the finger in return.

“Frankie also said you were going to celebrate his birthday while he was here,” Pat explained, “so I thought if everyone else was going to be here, I was too. After I made up my mind to come, I called Duck, to see if he wanted to join me. He did, so I swung by and picked him and Jennifer up on the way here.”

I guess that answered my question and made sense, in a strange sort of way, so I didn’t continue to question my good fortune further. Instead, I was going to enjoy having as many family members back as I could.

Ricky arrived a short time later. He’d driven here from Philadelphia, but had stopped in York to pick up Sammy, Graham and Frankie on his way home. Frankie had also driven to York, so he could meet up with his brothers and ride the rest of the way with them. After they greeted everyone and had spent a few minutes settling in, they began asking us about the vacation we had just taken.

“Did everyone have a good time?” Ricky asked.

He had seen us near the beginning of our trip, when we stopped to see Carlos and his mother, so he had a fair idea about what we had planned to do.

“Yes, I’d say we all enjoyed ourselves,” Marie answered for the others.

“Was this one of Dad’s stroll through history tours?” Frankie teased.

I knew he did this because he remembered I liked our vacations to have educational, as well as entertainment, value.

“Yep. We got to see some of the places Papa had been to when he was in the army,” Nicky joked.

Once he finished, he looked at me and burst out laughing.

“Hey! How old do you think I am?” I asked.

I was trying very hard to appear as if my feelings had been hurt, but I knew he wasn’t buying it.

“Let’s see. Methuselah lived nine-hundred years,” Robert replied, “and I think you’re gaining ground on him.”

Immediately, I flashed a shocked reaction after hearing that comment, and the rest of the family began to chuckle. They only stopped when Jordan spoke up.

“I figure if he was at Valley Forge and then fought at Gettysburg, he must be at least two hundred and fifty years old,” he added.

Although I was glad to see that he had adequate math skills, I was taking a beating here.

“Okay, that’s it!” I stated, while trying to pretend I was pouting. “I’m not taking any of you on vacation with me ever again.”

“Papa, don’t be mad,” Meagan told me, soothingly.

Looking at her concerned face, I figured I had at least one person on my side.

“You should be proud that you are the world’s oldest man,” she added.

Since she caught me completely off-guard, this caused everyone in the room to burst into laughter.

“You’re all disinherited!” I shouted, over the din. “I can see that I’m no longer loved around here.”

At this point, Jake wrapped his arms around my chest and gave me a big squeeze. I also felt some contact on my leg, so I glanced down and noticed Joshie was hugging me too.

“Okay, Jake and Joshie are back in, but the rest of you are still out,” I corrected.

“Great, because I really have a thing for old men,” Jake quipped.

After doing this, he slyly peered around the room to see how the others were reacting. Knowing he had set me up too, I half-heartedly began to push him away.

Once the teasing stopped, those who had gone on this vacation began to tell the others about the things we had done. The little ones were even adding some cute and comical views about the things that had happened, when I suddenly got another surprise. The door burst open again and in walked Shannon and Nick.

I was totally stunned by their appearance, since theirs was more than just a little trip. I had no idea they were flying in to see everyone as well, and I didn’t think Jake knew about it either. If he did, he certainly hadn’t bothered to mention it. I wasn’t about to complain though, because it was nice to see them again.

As I was chatting with Nick and Shannon, the extended family began to show up too. Although they were more than welcomed to join us, I wasn’t expecting them either. As I looked quizzically in their direction, Jake whispered in my ear.

“I mentioned to them that we were going to celebrate Frankie’s birthday and they all wanted to come,” he explained. “They thought they’d take advantage of Frankie being here, since most of them hadn’t seen him in quite a while.”

Yes, I could understand that. They had been asking about Frankie when they were here for the Fourth, so it makes sense that they would want to come and see him too. Therefore, I greeted Steve, Mary, Sally, Susan and Alice, although they hadn’t all arrived together. Once I had done this, I noticed each of them going over to chat with Frankie, although not all at the same time.

I had just started to speak with Jake about firing up the grills and getting the boys to help us take things outside, when our front door opened again. I nearly fell over in shock when I saw Mark, Amy and Jay walk in.

“Okay, what’s really going on here?” I demanded. “I know we’re a close family and you haven’t seen Frankie for awhile, but I had no idea that all of you were planning to be here today.”

“Is it a problem?” Mark asked.

Mark’s reaction made me feel badly that I had worded my comment so poorly.

“No, it’s not a problem at all,” Jake answered, bailing me out. “We have more than enough food and are happy to see all of you.”

“Thank you for straightening that out for me,” I stated, slightly embarrassed. “I didn’t mean for it to come out the way it did. Mark, I’m thrilled to see you and Amy again, and Jay too, for that matter. I didn’t know you were going to be here, but I’m certainly glad you are.”

“You mean you didn’t think I’d want to be here to celebrate with my dad?” he asked. “It’s obvious the whole neighborhood knows about what’s going on here, so why wouldn’t you think I’d come too.”

“What are you talking about?” I wanted to know.

At that moment, Jake and Mark began whispering to each other. This continued for a short time and then Mark turned to speak with me again.

“Okay, let me show you,” he stated, “but you’ll have to keep your eyes closed until I tell you to open them.”

This only added to my confusion and made me even more curious about what was going on. Reluctantly, I agreed, even though I thought this was becoming really bizarre. Hesitantly, I allowed Mark to guide me out the door and down the sidewalk. I was wondering how far we were going to go, when he instructed me to stop and turn around, but not to open my eyes yet. I did as I was told and waited for his next instruction.

“Okay, you can open your eyes now,” he stated.

As my eyelids began to lift, I noticed all of the others had come outside with us too. Then I looked up and saw what was going on. On the porch hung a huge banner that read, ‘Happy 60^th Birthday Dad/Josh.’ The porch was also decorated in black crepe paper and black balloons were tied to the posts supporting the porch roof. Then I noticed there were a few more black balloons tied to the handle of the screen door, leading into the house.

At that moment, everyone began to shout Happy Birthday and I realized I’d been had. The thought that they might try to surprise me with a party hadn’t crossed my mind, even though my birthday was coming up on Tuesday.

“We knew by making you think this party was for me,” Frankie began, “you wouldn’t suspect the actual purpose for it. That’s why I suggested we wait and celebrate my birthday today, instead of when it actually was.”

“And you were all in on this?” I asked, while looking around at the others.

Everyone was either nodding his head or giving me an affirmative response, so obviously they were. I had no idea this was going to happen and hadn’t planned on seeing my entire family, including the extended family, today. Don’t get me wrong. I was thrilled that we were all together again and that alone was the greatest birthday present they could have given me.

“Dad, Carlos told me to wish you a Happy Birthday for him too,” Ricky informed me. “He wanted to come with us, but he couldn’t get anyone to cover for him at work. He said he felt badly about not being able to make it, but at least you two got to see each other when you were on vacation.”

“Yes, and tell him not to worry about not making it,” I told Ricky. “Tell him I understand and we’ll get together another time.” Ricky nodded in acknowledgement.

“The only thing I want to know now is,” I said, looking from face to face, “is when did you do all of this?”

As I asked this question, I pointed toward the banner and morbid decorations.

“The boys did it while Dustin, Cole and their girlfriends kept you busy chatting in the family room,” Jake replied. “The planning, however, took weeks.”

I guess that answered my question, so we spent the rest of our time chatting and just having a good time. I was kept busy as everyone came over for a private conversation and a chance to offer his or her congratulations and well wishes. I think I also received a year’s supply of hugs and kisses. What more could a guy ask for than to be surrounded by his loved ones?

Since I had been so busy chatting with everyone, I hadn’t noticed that Jake had slipped away. I learned a short time later that he had gone to work the grills, ably assisted by Danny, Brandon, Kevin, Dion and Trey. They had taken it upon themselves to organize this shindig and feed everyone, which only made me love and appreciate them even more.

When there was a brief break in the line of people coming over to speak with me, I thought I’d sneak into the house for a few minutes. I needed to go to the toilet, but I also thought I’d also slip out the back door and see how Jake and the boys were doing with the food preparations. I was just coming out of the bathroom when Jordan and Nicky approached me and wanted to talk.

“Papa, I hope you’re not mad at us for teasing you about your age,” Jordan began. “We just thought it would be a good way to keep you from figuring out what we were up to.”

“No, I don’t get mad about things like that,” I assured him. “I only pretend I do – and then I get even for it later.”

After saying this, I let out an evil laugh.

“Aw, come on,” Jordan whined. “We weren’t being mean, just sneaky.”

“Okay, I won’t get even then – this time,” I told him.

“Good, because we were worried that we had taken it too far,” Nicky added.

“No, I actually think it was perfect,” I confirmed. “It’s just too bad that my comrades from Valley Forge and Gettysburg aren’t still around to join us.”

The two boys looked up at me, with huge grins on their faces, and then they embraced me in a group hug. I am very fortunate to have such wonderful grandsons.

My discussion with Jordan and Nicky had made me forget about checking on how Jake and the others were doing with the food, so I merely walked back outside with my grandsons. Shortly after we got outdoors, I heard Jake bellow that it was time to eat and everyone began moving toward the picnic tables. As the others were lining up at the end of the serving table to get their food, I was ushered over to the head of one of the picnic tables and ordered to sit down. Surprised, I took my seat and watched as Danny carried over a plate of food for me.

“I’m serving the birthday boy,” he announced, as he sat the plate in front of me. “I think I know what you like, but just yell if you need anything else.”

“It’s been a long time since I’ve been called a boy, but thank you for the compliment,” I told him. “I was beginning to feel as if everyone thought I was as old as God.” Danny smiled and shook his head.

“Even if you were, we’d love you just the same,” he answered. I don’t think he could have come up with a better response than that.

After we finished eating, we sat around for about an hour, before the cakes and ice cream was paraded out. There were actually three cakes – one for Frankie, another for me and a third for Kylie, whose birthday was the day after mine. She was turning six this year.

After singing a separate chorus of Happy Birthday to each of us, and having eaten our share of the cake and ice cream, the three of us celebrating a birthday were given presents to open. Each had been chosen with great care and showed how much we were loved.

After the last of the packages had been unwrapped, I was told that my cooperation was required, so pictures could be taken. I hadn’t noticed anyone else arriving, but a photographer had joined us and now I was being put in the center of a multitude of snapshots.

The first was a photo of everyone who was there at the time. I hope the guy was using a panoramic lens, because this was one huge mass of humanity. After he snapped a couple of pictures of that group, the extended family moved away, so snapshots could me taken of my children and grandchildren with me. Duck, Jay and Mark were all in these shots too, since they are part of my family as well.

Following those shots, I had more intimate pictures taken with each of my older children and their families, and then one of all of them with me. After that, I was surrounded by all of the boys who had become my family, after my biological children had left home. Following that, pictures were taken of each of my children with me alone, plus another with them and their partners with me, and a final one with all of my grandchildren with me.

Once the family photos had been taken, the photographer took one of me with the extended family, followed by separate shots of me with each of them alone. It seemed as if it took forever to take all of these photographs, but I knew I would cherish the memories they would provide, when I viewed them throughout the years ahead.

After ordering the appropriate number of copies of each photo from the photographer, so everyone in the picture could have his own copy, I thanked him and he told me he’d try to have everything ready by the following weekend. I could hardly wait to see how they turned out.

Since many of those who had made the long trip to join us were semi-exhausted, we didn’t do a whole lot more. The kids went off to play games and some of the older ones decided to take a dip in the pool, as the rest of us sat and talked about a variety of topics. Throughout the evening, we enjoyed each other’s company and reveled in the closeness of being together as a family again.

It was also during this period that Michael and Marie came over to speak with me. At first, I was a little concerned when they asked if they could discuss something with me in private, but it seemed they merely wanted me to clarify a conversation they’d had with their sons.

“Dad, Nicky and Jordan are pestering us to let them stay here with you after we leave,” Marie began. “They said you told them it would be all right.”

“What I told them, when they confronted me about this, was that it was something they needed to speak to their parents about,” I corrected. “However, since they pressed to see if it would be okay with me, I told them if you were willing to let them spend more time here, then I would be happy to have them.”

“I had a feeling we weren’t getting the accurate version,” Michael countered. “However, I wouldn’t mind letting Jordan spend another week here, if you don’t mind. I know Nicky and he have grown very close to Jesse and Andrew while we’ve been together, so it might be good for them to spend a little more time with each other.”

“I’d noticed their connection too,” I confirmed, although I didn’t elaborate.

“I really don’t object to Nicky staying longer either, since he doesn’t start school for a couple more weeks,” Marie offered. “It’s just that I don’t want him flying home by himself.”

“I’ll tell you what,” I began. “Since Dion and Trey will be home with Joshie, I’ll drive Jordan and Nicky to Michael’s and then fly to your place with Nicky. I’ll spend a couple of days with you and then fly back and stay with Michael for a couple of days, if that meets with your approval.”

“It does and Adrian and I would love to have you,” Marie replied.

“Andrea and I would love that too, Dad,” Michael added, “so I guess the boys can stay a little longer, if they wish.”

“This will be hard on Kylie, since she’ll be alone while Nicky’s with you,” Marie added.

“Then why don’t you let her stay with us,” Michael offered. “She and Megan will enjoy spending some more time together as well. They have gotten along really well during this trip and then Dad can accompany both kids, as they fly back home.”

“Is that okay with you, Dad?” Marie asked, in order to get my approval.

“It is fine with me,” I answered, “and I’m certain all four kids will be thrilled about it too.”

It now appeared that this was a done deal, but before we told my grandchildren about what we’d agreed to, I went to speak with Elizabeth and Tim next.

“I just finished speaking with Michael and Marie, and they’re going to let Jordan and Nicky spend another week here before they go home,” I advised them. “Michael is also going to have Kylie stay with Megan and them, and then next weekend I’ll drive Jordan and Nicky to his place. From there, I fly with Nicky and Kylie back to their parents, but I feel as if someone is being left out. Would you two be willing to consider allowing Lucas to stay here for another week, so he and Joshie can spend more time together too? I can drop him off at your place before taking the others back to their parents.”

Elizabeth and Tim talked this over quickly and then gave me their answer.

“That will be fine, Dad, if you think you’re up to it,” Elizabeth agreed. “I know Lucas really enjoyed being with Joshie and they were a riot together, on the nights they stayed with us. I think it will be good for both of them to have more time with each other.”

“Great! I’m sure Dion and Trey will spend as much time as I will with Lucas, but I know the two little ones will be overjoyed about having another week together.”

Now that each of the families had agreed, I went to tell my grandchildren the good news. I started with Jordan and Nicky.

“Your parents have agreed to let you spend another week here,” I began.

Hearing this news caused both boys to shout their approval and then they started to race off, so they could tell Jesse and Andrew. However, before they got very far, I stopped them.

“Hold on for a second,” I chided.

Hearing this, they both came to a screeching halt and walked back to where I was standing.

“I just wanted to explain a few things first,” I continued. “Lucas will also be staying here with Joshie and Kylie will be spending the week with Megan.”

The two boys looked surprised at this news, but before they could ask any questions, I continued.

“Next Saturday, I will drive you boys to Jordan’s house and we will drop Lucas off along the way. I will then fly with Nicky and Kylie back to their place. I just want you boys to be careful around the younger ones, because I don’t want them to see anything they shouldn’t. Do you understand?”

Jordan and Nicky nodded that they did and then I let them race off to tell Jesse and Andrew the good news. While they were doing that, I found the four youngest ones and apprised them as to what had been agreed to. They were equally ecstatic that they’d have another week to spend together and thanked me for making it happen. I told them they also needed to thank their parents for agreeing to it as well, so they ran off to do that, before they finished the game they’d been playing.

After that, the rest of us enjoyed a quiet evening together, chatting about a variety of topics. Part of the time was spent recalling wonderful memories from the past, as well as telling stories about some humorous moments from the past, which certain individuals would rather forget. Overall, it was a very enjoyable way to spend the evening.

After the extended family began to leave, some of the others decided to turn in. Some were travel weary from their long trip here, while others were tired from all the physical labor they had done during the day, in order to ensure this little get together went off perfectly. In the end, we all seemed to call it a night fairly early.

The following morning, Jake and I got up before the others, so we could fix some light snacks they could eat before we left for church. I didn’t want them to have a big meal, because I was planning to take them out for brunch after the service. Once everyone had some juice and enough food to keep their bellies from rumbling as we sat in the pews, we left the house.

When we got to the church, I was eager to show off my children and grandchildren to our friends and acquaintances. Many in the congregation knew my family, but hadn’t seen some of them for quite a while. Therefore, we spent quite a few minutes chatting with them, before we made our way inside.

The minister greeted all of us as we entered too. He spoke briefly with each of the couples he had joined in the commitment ceremony and asked how they were doing. Due to all of this attention, it took us much longer than I would have liked before we took our seats. It also meant the service was late getting started, but only by about fifteen minutes.

I think the minister tried to shorten the service and speed things up a bit, to make up for the late start. I’m sure this made many of the parishioners happy, especially those who had plans for afterward. However, we didn’t make it out of there quickly either, since many more of those in attendance came up to speak with us on our way out.

Once we broke away from the last of these people, we went off to have brunch. We had a bit of a wait before they cleared an area large enough to accommodate us, but it was worth the wait. The meal was delicious, the company was great and the experience was enjoyable.

When we arrived home, some of those who had to return home began packing their things and loading up their vehicles. Over the next couple of hours, they said their good-byes and hit the road. We wished them all a safe trip and I asked each of them to call after they got back, just so I knew they had arrived safely. Since I usually requested this, they willingly agreed, but it was still sad to see them leave. However, as the old saying goes, ‘all good things must come to an end’ and so must this wonderful weekend.