My sister Michele’s third birthday is one to remember. My parents bought a cake and had it decorated with an elaborate carousel because she loved riding the merry-go round at what would become known as the John F. Kennedy Park in Hayward, California on Hesperian Boulevard.
We invited my father’s immediate family to the party, which meant his parents, sister, brother-in-law, and niece. We met at Spenger’s Fish Grotto in Berkeley, California. My father knew the original owner of the restaurant (Mr. Spenger), and had reserved the banquet room for Michele’s birthday party.
Before the party, my father insisted on taking a couple photographs to record the event. He took the first one, which is shown to the left. My sister Lisa is almost a year and being held by my grandfather, Michael Joseph McLaughlin. From left to right, the other adults are Margaret Mary McLaughlin (my grandmother), Margaret Therese Fedele (my father’s sister), James Fedele (my father’s brother-in-law), and my mom Elsa (Elsie) Florence Carlson. Again from left to right, the other kids in the front are Michael Jimmy (that’s me), Maryanne Fedele (my first cousin), and the party girl, Michele Ann McLaughlin. She’s holding her new doll that she received for her birthday from my parents before going out to eat.
My mother took the other picture, which lets us see that special cake with it’s merry-go round peaking out above the top of the box. 
Unfortunately, she didn’t know how to adjust for the change in light, so when she backed up to capture the cake she over exposed the picture (just a bit). The only difference in the photo is that my dad’s in it and my mother isn’t. He’s the one in the middle of the adults in the back row with his arm around his mother.
I did get in trouble for tasting the cake’s frosting but that’s actually great in hindsight because I’m the only one who tasted any of it. When my father lit the fourth candle (the one to grow on) inside the banquet room, the carousel caught fire. It was a whoosh and then flames and smoke. By the time they doused the fire the cake was gone. While it struck me as a great time, it certainly tied Mr. Spenger and my father’s stomachs in knots.
Mr. Spenger saved the day after dinner because he had coconut covered cakes and ice cream for the kids. It brought a smile back to Michele’s face because the destruction of the cake was a proper tragedy for her party. The other presents also helped.