This week has special significance to me and my siblings (brother Glenn and sister Rhonda), as our late parents would've marked their respective birthdays in October.

This year, our father, Joaquin Martinez, would've turned 85 on October 14th, and our mother, Sheila Shell Martinez, would've turned 81 on October 18th.

To commemorate Mom and Dad (and the lives they'd shared, throughout their 40 years of marriage), I'd decided to post this rare photo of the two of them - taken in front of our old two-story home in Elmont, New York, back in the 1970s. (I know that time for sure, because Mom still had dark hair back then, and Dad had just became a laryngectomee - as a result of cigarette smoking - following the removal of his vocal cords through surgery.) I forgot what the special occasion was when I took the photograph, but I couldn't resist this 'Kodak moment'.

To further remember our parents, I had lit a 'memorial light' in the kitchen of my condo (beginning on Saturday, October 13, 2012), and it will remain lit for one week (until Saturday, October 20, 2012), and I'm sure that Glenn and Rhonda will do the same in their respective homes.

"Happy Birthday, Mom & Dad (wherever you are)!"