Dear Tim,
Happy birthday!
There are three things that I remember of life growing up that specifically pertain to you. The first is of you and Kent attempting to both ditch and scare your younger siblings, that being Phil and me, when you would go exploring the halls and basement of the TB sanitarium next door to Grandma Bowden’s house. For those of you who don't know, the place is now known as "Ingham Medical Center.”
Another memory is of the days when we would all go to the lake. We would drag anything behind the boat that we could find. The old styrofoam sailboat was one of the best, even after it broke in two. The one I remember that didn't work so well was the three-foot diameter plywood disk. You painted it yellow. It worked OK at slow speeds, but when the speed was picked up some it went totally flat on the water and it only took a small ripple to wash us off the board. I still think a coal shovel with a fin attached would work. Perhaps this is the year to try it. Get the large plastic grain shovel, though. The shape is the same but it is a better material.
The third memory I have is our trip to Wheaton for one of Cal's basketball games. Winter of 1973. We drove your Opal GT. Lansing to Wheaton in three hours. Average speed? 100 miles per hour. What a ride. I love going fast. We threw all the pennies we had at the toll booths. 29 pennies, one short, they caught us, throw in another penny.
Happy birthday Tim,
Cousin Jim in Yokosuka, Japan
