Happy Birthday BooBoo!

Thanks to justice and mcgee, here I am, John, aka Sarge.

The low maintainance, summer haircut wasn't exactly this short when I got the nickname Sarge.  I began playing on a softball team with some guys from work during high school.  They all had the long hair, style of the day in contrast to my short hair which was required by the ROTC program I was in at the high school I attended.  One of the guys thought he would try to get under my skin by mockingly calling me Sarge for the first month.  I was too stubborn to give into his prodding and the nickname stuck.  For many years not many people in that social life knew my real name, but they knew the name Sarge was referring to me.

I am the second oldest of seven kids.
I am the third from the left in the picture.
With 2 brothers and 4 sisters, there was always something going on around our house, be it for better or worse.  Gotta love those 60's looks, eh?

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To the right is 24 years later.

I met Margaret Sue at the electrical distributorship where we both worked.  She had a great smile that got my attention and once we got together, we never separated.  Although we look 15 in the wedding picture, we were actually 20.  In fact Sue turned 21 a week later as I did the following month.  Yep, got myself an older woman.

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As most families do, ours got older and grew bigger.
This photo shows an added brother-in-law, to the far right, as well as my beautiful bride, new to the family.

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We wasted no time in starting our own family.  Our four lovely daughters were born in 1981, 1983, 1985 and 1987.  It wasn't exactly planned that way, but it worked out nicely.  Stacy, Laura, Sarah and Kirsten have been a joy and a blessing in our lives.

As Sue and I have grown older, so have the girls.

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In 2005, Stacy was the first of our daughters to marry and we gladly welcomed Aaron into our family.  And so it continues to grow.

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As we grow and the family grows, we still try to gather together for a meal to celebrate birthdays.  In 2006 we gathered at the best steak house in the Twin Cities to celebrate my and Sue's birthdays.  At least Sue and I enjoy the opportunity to dress up once in awhile.

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