I don’t suppose it’s easy to have your birthday on a holiday. After you realize that the hoopla isn’t all about you, you must start to feel a bit overlooked. Well, this year in honour of Dave’s birthday, and possibly because it’s been 150 years since Queen Victoria chose [1] Ottawa as the capital of what would become Canada, we’ll have [2] fireworks over the Ottawa river at 18:57.

Now you may be thinking to yourself, what has Dave done to deserve fireworks on his birthday and I’ll tell you:

* Dave married into our family, certainly no task for the weak-hearted.
* Dave was a gracious host when his new wife’s kid sister wanted to hang around his apartment, even when the aforementioned kid sister followed them to Halifax to stay for weeks at a time.
* Dave came through on his part of a bet that saw the eating of half of a pineapple-cream cheese cake go against a trip to the movies. And he probably would have held my head when I threw up after eating the half-cake, as I thought I would.
* Dave has decorated some pretty amazing birthday cakes in his time. A [3] Care Bear cake when I was 12 or 13 stands out in my memory, as does the “gag” decoration that ever-so-accurately resembled dog droppings.
* Dave provided some good advice for some teenage angst that I experienced. Not mushy or sappy but practical and much needed.
* Dave got me home and safely settled one night when I’d had entirely too much to drink. He didn’t make me feel stupid then - foolish, yes, but not stupid - and has poked only a bit of fun occasionally.
* Now that the pesty little sister mentioned above is a grown woman, Dave is gracious - if sometimes chippy - when his wife spends time with her niece and sister when they come for visits or when his wife makes a trip to see her sister and niece.
* Dave is a welcome bit of peace in the noise and confusion of life at Grandma Joyce’s. Reid likes to snuggle up beside him on the couch and sit quietly, to just “be”. They’ll watch tv and be together and Reid relaxes.

Happy birthday, Dave. You’re a good brother-in-law and I’m sure Reid would say you’re a good uncle, too.