September 18, 1981

Was the day my favorite son-okay my only son, but still my favorite-came into the world with his bald little head and round little cheeks. What a cutie he was! (and still is).

Joseph Edward Gartman is his name, but I think he prefers just Joe these days, and I just have to wonder where all those years went. It seems like one day you've got this little redheaded toddler playing with cars and trains and then the next day you wake up and he's about six feet tall and has a red beard and is driving those cars and trains!

Here he is on his first day home from the hospital-look at those cheeks!

And with big sister Jennifer.
And on his very first birthday. The cake was good! And Joe was such a fun and happy little boy!

This is one of my favorite pictures from when he was three. We had gone downtown for some sort of street fair and he saw this elephant and wanted to take a ride. He was so proud of himself for being so brave and riding that elephant!This kid was always fascinated with cars and trains and trucks and anything with wheels. Cement trucks and the garbage truck were always exciting to see and if we went to dinner with the family at Dominicks Italian Restaurant in Oxnard, you could guarantee that when the train went by on the tracks across the street, Joe would hear it coming and be at the window watching it go by. One of his earliest adventures in drawing on the walls was making train tracks on his sister's bedroom wall. I couldn't help but laugh because he was so proud to show me his train tracks. We gave him lots of paper and crayons to draw train tracks with after that!

Here he is on his first engineering trip when he was five.

And here he is being a real engineer!

I'm so glad that this little boy who always wanted to be a railroad engineer was actually able to make his dream come true and work for the railroad.

So, Happy Birthday, favorite son!