Okay, I won't lie. There's not a
fantastic story behind this photo. A mere glance from an objective
viewer yields nothing more than the standard banality of any birthday
gathering. However, the photo holds a degree of appeal for me for
one reason and one reason alone. My father is shown in the
background downing a can of Miller High Life.
Now that I've pointed that detail out,
it tells so much more about my family. The first item being that
we're Catholic, thus the presence of beer at any get together. This
particular occasion being the ninth birthday of my cousins Annie, Angie
and Carla. The triplets. How I dreaded the holidays were they
were present. I always had to pretend like I could tell them
apart. Truth be told, I couldn't and still have trouble today.
Angie was easy to identify because of her permanently horse voice (being
born with a hole in her esophagus at birth, he had the damaged portion of
her throat patched with a commensurate section of small intestine; a
process both outright disgusting, yet fascinating at the same time because
it reflects the multipurpose abilities of our internal organs). As
for which was Carla or Annie, it was anyone's guess. I'd usually
eavesdrop until I got the gist of who was who.
The second detail is the antisocial
nature of males in the Kaelin family. While not total recluses, we
do stray from the heart of obsequious familial conversations. That's
what the beer is for. Undoubtedly, my other uncles and grandfather
were on the other side of the doorway, seated about the kitchen table, for
none are present in the picture (apart from my uncle Paul, but years down
the road, revelations would come forth which explain his proximity to the
birthday revelry).
So the main point is I like this photo
because it characterizes a personality trait of my dad; the habit of
sneaking a brew any chance he gets. No real harm in it unless he should
overindulge (like he did at my cousin Krista's wedding, but that is
another tale).
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