Friends and Family, it was 18 years ago today that Riley Haymes Groves entered this experience we call life.
As he passes from boy to man today (at least in his ability to be drafted to war, buy cigarettes, and be tried as an adult for crimes) it is appropriate to look back on his now vanished childhood. Here are a few of my favorite memories:
- The day he was born when mom and dad called to tell us it was a boy (before ultrasounds were standard) the sisters were all very excited, and the older brother just said "I guess that's OK, but now I'll have to share a room with it."
- As a tot his eyes were so big compared to the rest of his head we called him Headlights.
- As a toddler we could say any words in the right tone of "who wants to go do this?" and he would excitedly yell "ME!" Mom didn't buy it for passing off chores on to him though.
- When he was 6 his sisters made him get married to the 7 year old girl across the street. It was a beautiful garden wedding.
- When he was 8 a friend of his and him went all around the neighborhood selling their autographs. They figured when they both became professional baseball players later in life those signatures would be worth millions.
- When he was 10 we could get him to do anything we wanted by threatening to have his older brother put him in the "Allan Tangler" wrestling hold. He tried to counter-threaten with the "Riley Wrangler" but it was just like the Allan Tangler and we were all bigger than him.
- When he was 14 he tried to slam dunk a Nerf ball into the basket on his door but hit his chin on the door instead and needed stitches.
- When he was 17 he tried to show up his brother and brothers-in-law in a basketball game but broke mom's plant pot in the driveway instead.
Now all of those silly, childish, and a little bit embarrassing things are behind him as he moves into adulthood (especially breaking mom's pot last week, thank goodness.) And we mourn the passing of time as the baby of our family is now all grown up!
Happy Birthday Riley!
Please leave any memories you have of Riley, if you've ever met him that is. Or you can just make up a memory too, that's cool.
5 comments:
it was actually the forehead that met with the wall not the chin. Thnx sis that was fun! I had no idea allan had called me an "it" when he found out we had to share rooms.
Don't forget about the time when Riley wrecked the car just before church on his way to church so that everyone pulling into the parking lot could see it.
Awfully kind of that sister to pray for him in the opening prayer of sacrament meeting!
Thanks for the memories, Ry!
Oh my GOSH Shaina, when I first pulled up your site and saw Riley's b&w picture and "In Memoriam" I SERIOUSLY was about to freak out, and thought RILEY DIED?????????????? NOOOO!!!!! Okay, then I read it and figured it out. But seriously girl, I DON'T need that kind of heart attack again!!!SHEESH!
Happy Birthday Riley! And the one memory you forgot was Uncle Merrill's "Gotcha" game! That's a good one.
You can't forget the fact that Riley changed my name when he was about 4 or 5 years old. It doesn't matter what my birth certificate shows. Everyone calls me Yizbuf and that's that. Thanks Riley. Love ya! and hope you had a great birthday!
And can't forget the nickname "Tombstone Riley" that grandpa Dodge kindly gave him, because he knocked over a headstone in a graveyard and it fell and broke his foot. Carynn did all the crying for him.
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