Theo Turns five

Caption: With his sister Natalie, 1, Theodore celebrates “the Big Oh-Five” in his new T-Rex outfit.

Early in the morning on May 29, 2002, Dad and Mom hailed a cab on First Avenue and took a ride across the 59th Street Bridge to a hospital in Queens. Next thing you know, we’re celebrating Theodore Warner Clark’s fifth birthday at 56 Voorhees Place in Metuchen, N.J. Somewhere during that half decade, we came into possession of an adorable little girl with the most curious little voice and language.

Gentle reader, the Clarks of New Jersey Web site will not attempt to describe how five years can disappear in an instant; nor are the authors capable of explaining the melancholy feelings aroused by a child’s progression from toddler to little boy to boy. It is our role here simply to chronicle the events of a simple family.

With special help from Valerie Agtarap (Valerie, CNJ salutes you!), Margie led Theo and his classmates downtown to What’s the Scoop, Metuchen’s world-famous ice cream parlor. Gifts were exchanged, candles were extinguished, ice cream and pizza were consumed. Through it all, the children smiled.

When Dad arrived home from work, his freshly bathed son retold the day’s events, arms flailing with excitement and special emphasis given to the size, color and functionality of his birthday gifts.

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Dad turns 42 years old on May 30. What would be an appropriate birthday message for him?