Happy Birthday Eric!

Once there was a little boy who loved Tonka trucks, Corgi toys, and Big Wheels - as a matter of fact, he loved anything with wheels. He saw his uncle changing some tires once and decided all the wheels had to come off his toys. It became a problem because the wheels would get lost and he couldn't make his toys go. He was the first grandchild in our family and was loved and adored. Eric was a happy child and was always smiling. People loved this happy, happy boy. Eric got so many presents for Christmas he had to be shaken awake to open more presents. His mother was a real peace-nik and wouldn't let Eric have any guns...but his Pop-Pop was a pistol champion in the Army and let Eric play with his guns. Eric joined the Boy Scouts and worked very hard to become an Eagle Scout. As soon as Eric grew up he joined the Army without telling his mother. She almost fainted when the recruiter came to the door and told her Eric had joined the Army at the age of 17, and would she please sign these papers. You see Eric's father had been drafted and gone to Vietnam to do his patriotic duty and was almost ready to come home when he was shot, in a face to face shoot out with a NVA soldier. This made everyone very sad, and nobody was anxious for the same thing to happen to Eric. But Eric had joined the Army and finally he could play with all the guns he wanted. Eric went to the Virginia Military Institute and graduated with honors. The Army sent him to Combat Engineer School at Fort Leonard Wood and Eric played little boy games, only for real. He built bridges and blowed them up, and had lots of fun with things like that. The Army sent Eric to Fort Knox in Kentucky, where he met Annie when she waited on him in a restaurant. He had just arrived in Louisville, and walked into the restaurant in his Army uniform. Eric looked like a cross between Brad Pitt and James Dean and Leonardo DiCaprio, so no wonder Annie wanted to wait on his table. She even offered to put him up in her apartment. When he told me he was moving in with Annie, I said, "Don't move in with her unless you are going to marry her," and guess what? He married her! And now they have Hannah and Luke, the cutest kids in the whole wide world! And they all are living happily ever after! Happy, happy birthday, Eric Alexander!