What a year! ~the election, the fire, reconstruction, and Joe became 80 on the 26th of October! No wonder our hearts accelerated. What a guy! He has been hanging paintings and photos, shades and blinds, building his workshop, walking the dog, and suffering insurance. Grass doesn't grow under his feet. He also tends cactuses or cacti! If I paint his portrait it will be he with cactus forming an 80, copying the grandchildren's idea. Joe will wear his sweater to walk the dog, read in his chair, and enjoy the photo of the grands shaping an 80 with their bodies.Over birthday dinner we enumerated his special attributes starting with the letters E I G H T Y.Eighty doesn't seem so old with Joe! It's an art.