The family got together to celebrate both Easter and Eric's birthday today. He turns 26 on Wednesday, which is the same age I was when he was born (but only for another five days). Anyone want to figure out my age and when my birthday is?

He came up from the East Bay to spend the weekend at his parents' house here in town, and that's where we gathered this afternoon. As we always do, we dredged up all the stories from family history, like the three days of labor his mother had to endure to produce him. We sang, we laughed, we had "serious" discussions. He and I talked baseball. Then we ate dinner and a rich dessert before scattering to our respective homes.

It was a beautiful spring day, with a few clouds in the sky but not enough to cool us off too much just yet. These are mellow affairs, and the pleasure we take is only heightened by the fact that the occasions to gather like this are getting increasingly rare as time goes on.

When there were small children in the family, we all saw each other much more often, and the birthday celebrations were often rollicking affairs, with masses of friends and relations coming together and mounds of presents to be open. Now the family gets together like this a few times a year, and instead of whooping it up we just enjoy each other.