My grandmother's birthday was this past weekend. Esther Beldin (nee Griswold) turned 95 on Sunday and we visited her at her new home in Dowling, MI. She lived for decades in Florida, but circumstance requires her to be closer to family. She still looks exactly the same as she does here, so if any of you are wondering how I do it, well, here's your answer. Good genes.

My old man made a very cool slide show of 20th century photos in celebration, so if you're a relative or creepy stalker type (the line between the two is thin sometimes), you can check it out here. Please ignore the few pictures of me looking very uncomfortable around my family, they are situational and definitely not evidence of deep psychological problems.

PS. I really ought to point out this awesome photo of my late paternal grandfather as well.


I am lucky enough to have inherited my great hair and interest in music from both grandfathers, Beldin as well as Storz. Grandpa Beldin taught himself the chord organ in his retirement years and had deliciously wavy hair as a youth ... Grandpa Storz taught himself trombone so he could play along with his beloved big band swing records in the 1950s and still has a full, beautiful head of white hair to this day. Both of them were smokers but quit in their middle age and beat the odds by continuing to live into their 90s. I am truly blessed, genetically anyhow.