Let’s see… 2013 minus 1928… You have to borrow from the one to make it 13 minus the 8. Okay, that’s 5. Then double borrow over to the 2 to make the second zero a 10, now minus the 2 and get 8… The 19s cancel each other out so… OMG! My father will be 85 years old tomorrow!
But it’s not like I really didn’t know. My math skills are actually pretty good. What I didn’t know, however, was that by the time July rolled around this year, Dad would be the only surviving child of eight siblings, and that he’d be the last person of that entire generation still standing in our whole family.
And I bet he didn’t expect that either. Yet here he is, on the eve of another birthday, and I’ll bet he even reads this blog post sometime in the next 24 hours. At 84 and 364/365, he’s quite computer literate and emails regularly.
Not bad for someone who was born the year Herbert Hoover was elected president, Amos and Andy debuted on radio, George Eastman showed the first color motion picture, Ty Cobb got his 4,191 (and final) career hit, Mickey Mouse had his screen debut, Velveeta cheese was created by Kraft, and sliced bread, touted as the greatest thing since bread started being wrapped, was introduced in Missouri.
Yep, Dad’s seen a lot of amazing things come to pass in his lifetime, but I’m pretty sure, even though he spent a great many years working on the cutting edge of television electronics, he never dreamed of all the eCommunications we now enjoy.
So Happy 85th Birthday, Dad! And I hope to wish you many, many more!