New York City Trip, 1980 (Age 4)

I grew up an hour away from New York City, and my love it may have started with the trips my grandpa would take us on when I was little. Here we are going to the circus at Madison Square Garden in 1980, probably April or May. Above, Jene and I with Gramps. (Top of parking garage between 30th and 31st Streets.) 

Between MSG and 2 Penn Plaza, at street level.

2PENN, which is undergoing a major renovation as I type this, 43 years later.

Looking east from that same parking garage at St. John the Baptist, because of the architecture, yeah, that's it, the architecture....  What's with me thinking "hands on knees" is the proper pose for parking garage shots??

The parking garage we were standing on is still there today, as seen in the above satellite map pic. The orange arrows show where we were standing and the direction of the shots looking out at MSG and then the church.
 

My 4th Birthday Party, 1979

The dining room in Ridgefield, September 1979. I still have that Spider-Man. And note the picture of me crawling on the sand as a baby. That hung in our hallway for the life of that house--I hadn't realized it had gone up so soon after the moment happened. (Showing you part of the physical photo album, with my mom's handwriting on "Jere's 4th.")

Blowing out the candles as my dad looks on. Hey, why is Stefan blowing too?? WTF.

Left to right: 

Carter (born in the same year Carter was elected! He was a big motorcycle guy and the Internet tells me he was still doing motocross as of a few years ago. 

Ali, who've I've been in touch with somewhat recently--she became the head cheerleader and always kind of felt like a second sister growing up. 

Jessica, who ended up going to a different school I think, never heard from her post-nursery school. 

My sister, Jene, whose own kids I still think of as being the age of the kids in this picture, but who are actually all full-grown adults now. 

And me.

Left to right:

Stefan again. This guy became a professional magician, and my sister keeps in touch with him.

Possibly Timmy, who ended up getting a mohawk in middle school, long before I knew you could get a haircut that wasn't, ya know, the same one you'd always had.

Chris. Went on to be one of the popular crowd in high school, on the football team, etc. I always felt like despite that I wasn't popular, I'd grown up with enough of the popular kids so that they gave me a "break," like, nobody was gonna beat me up, they pretty much left me alone.

The party rages on.......

Group shot in the living room for present-opening. Is that my to-this-day friend Pat in the striped shirt at right? Hmm...