Mom and Dad's 60th - Megan Delehanty HiTop Images

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Who is this alarmingly attractive couple?

Jim and Norma Delehanty!
San Francisco, California - April 24, 1948

What's happened since? In no particular order....several emergency room visits; the wiener wagon; dominoes; 7 kids, 2 adults and a Colonel piled into a VW Van for a month-long jaunt around the British Isles; Bobby VanBochlin (who knows how to spell that name?) and his BB gun; the Savages spraying Brian in the face with paint and Burke going over to beat them up; eating jello right out of the box (just the powder); 4th of July at the Coonan's, Christmas Eve at the Cookson's and Easter at the Delehanty's; everyone had to take piano...except Dan; Cuba; Texas; West Poplar (of the Delehanty's, Wellman's, Lewenhaupt's, Cox's and Ryan's, we had the smallest family on the block); Stonehedge Road; St. Matthew's uniforms; Burke says "who can forget Reddy Kilowatt?" (that would be me, Burke, but I included it anyway); leaving Kevin at the gas station on our way to Disneyland; Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners with Allie, Helen, Peggy, and lots of very loud Delehanty's; trips to Pinecrest and Tahoe; Paula breaking her leg skiing; Megan breaking her leg skiing; numerous Serra baseball, basketball and football games; Dan playing baseball with Barry Bonds, who had a thing for Megan (you know you did, Barry); Notre Dame; playing kick the can with the Poplar neighborhood gang; seriously competitive Capture the Flag games; everyone playing golf at the San Francisco Golf Club on Christmas day (because it is closed...and we're not allowed when it is open); Kevin's band playing at Brian's 21st birthday party; Kevin's high school (yes, all of San Mateo High School) crashing the party; the cops crashing the party; Brian bearing "all" (a little too much for Mom and probably most of the people there) at his 40th birthday party; Paula having a party in her room and sneaking friends up the side of the house while everyone, including Mom and Dad, were asleep (the Mom never sleeps - totally busted); 7 kids, 2 adults and Burke's 2 guitars in Hawaii; Mom, Dad, Megan and Dan searching for a grave in Ireland; Jesse; Nipper Dog; Poijken the Killer Hot Dog; See See the cat with 29 lives until she fell asleep under Andy Kidwell's tire; Rasputin, Burke's pet rat, only it wasn't a pet; Molly and Megan's small farm of hamsters; riding our bikes to St. Matthew's together; tennis matches; Molly running rivers in Colorado; dropping off, I mean abandoning Paula in England; Burke always working on his VW Bug; Burke moving to Tahoe; free skiing at Sugar Bowl!; free housing in Tahoe, only you had to clean the sink first and that took about 2 days; driving to Texas for Mom's high school reunion; Mom making us school lunches until we were 20 (seemed like it anyway); Dan thinking he got away with his party while the folks were away until the local nurse told Mom her daughter had a lovely time; Sunday dinners with Pop and Marion; Mom remembering birthdays, Easter baskets, Christmas gifts, missing teeth, we mean everything; Mom's Texas accent re-emerging whenever she got off the phone with her cousin, Molly; swinging from the rope outside the Savage's garage; Geeta, Inga, the Windisch's and all the baby sitters; Judith, pronounced "Hu deet" but we called her "who did it?;" Dad playing (trying to play) the saxophone; piling into Dad's war room one Christmas to listen to Steve Martin's "Get Small" album; piling into Dad's office another Christmas to watch the Sugar Ray Leonard fight; Sister Helen Angela taught 6th grade math to all of us (is she still alive?); "family night" to see the new Jack Nicholson movie, The Postman Always Rings Twice (Mom freaking out and searching the theater for Megan and Dan since we could not all sit together); the 60's (need we say more?); the 70's; Malthion helicopters!; Paula coming home from The Who concert with Roger Daltrey's broken tamborine; Bing Crosby at St. Bart's Mass, singing and snapping his fingers on his way back from communion; Kevin's singing, Brian's singing, Kevin and Brian singing a lot...and playing golf; Paula singing a lot; Megan breaking bones a lot; Dan getting stitches, like, every second; Dr. Peters; Dr. Bell with the needle the size of a pool cue stick; Brian, Kevin, Dan and David Molthen having a farting contest at the Vineyard; the Vineyard!: Carmel!; 49er games; Giants games; Mom and Dad at the World Series game during the '89 earthquake, having the time of their lives with other stranded people in the parking lot; Dad losing a number of lead soldiers during the earthquake - he called them casualties; Mom claiming to know everything that went on with her kids (we didn't think so but we weren't sure at the time); the only TV allowed on a school night was My Three Sons for Burke, Paula and Brian; the only TV allowed on a school night was The Waltons for Megan and Dan; we don't know what Kevin and Molly watched (the middle children are frequently forgotten); Mom driving carpool after carpool after carpool; Dan calling the neighbor "Mr. Doo Doo Head;" Molly speaking French, Mom speaking Spanish, and the rest of us speaking frequently; whose night to do the dishes? Mom was smart - 7 kids, 7 days of the week; Dad and his war room, cigars and books; Mom's art, gardens and singing; some Republicans, some Democrats, and remarkably, not a lot of arguing; some Catholic, some sort of Catholic, some no longer Catholic, and remarkably, not a lot of arguing; respect and love and lots of laughter; and we carefully avoid topics like politics and religion; finally building a house at James Monroe's ranch; being Irish American...and then being 19% Native American; having to listen to Dad talk about his "people" like he was 100% Native American; Chief Sore Foot; serious dominoes (did I already mention that?); poker games; Mom and Dad and their small army of friends; Mom showing Paula that it's okay to paint the piano; Mom just being one of those cool mom's who likes to explore; many random side trips off the freeway - "hey kids, let's go see what Nevada City is like!"; Paula moving to Boston; Kevin moving to Dallas; Molly moving to Boulder...then Hawaii; Megan and Dan moving to Washington, DC; Burke thinking New York is a foreign country; everyone moving back to California; dinners at Celias; Sandy, Will, Mary Lee, Sue, Pete and Alexis; Sean being born, moving to London and now married; we won't start with the rest of the grandchildren and great grandchildren because it just goes on and on...so we added photos below of everyone (by the time you've read this, the photos should be loaded up!).

We love you, Mom and Dad!

Your Children,

Burke, Paula, Brian, Kevin, Molly, Megan and Dan
(aka Bur, Pa, Bri, Ke, Mo, Me and Dan)

Along with...Sandy, Will, Mary Lee, Sue, Pete and Alexis

And...Mark, Ronan, Mickey, Liza, Becky, Jim, Seamus, Fintan, Emily, Anthony, Dominic, Lucia, Sean, Marissa, Ryan, Katya, Colin, Ashley, Shannon, Caroline, Allie, Kelly, Katie, Chloe and James