Happy Birthday Dad

"When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years." -Unknown

Today is my father's 79th birthday, nearly eighty years of viewed life. There has been so much seen by his eyes. I send along happy wishes for so much more to see. His has been a life that like so many of us in which happy and sad events have defined his path.

I have always liked the picture above showing my mother and he in their last year of high school. Sweethearts with so much life's adventure ahead of them. To know their story, to know what has happened to them through the years is a great lesson for me.

Now it is very likely my father will not see this post. He isn't much for things like computers or the Internet. It can be frustrating for me knowing how much is available to him. And then I realize the frustration is more about me then it is him. He is happy with magazines, newspapers, radio and television. He likely gets more information on a daily basis then I do.

After my mother passed away from Pancreatic Cancer, I worried that he would be lost. He was to a certain degree and probably still struggles with it today. When you are married to someone for nearly 60 years, losing the other can be like losing your internal compass. What was is no longer other then the memory of everything you did on a daily basis with each other.

But I am proud of him and how he is adjusting. There are things I would have him do differently I suppose, but then again I realize those thoughts are more about me then it is him.

One needs to lift their eyes and look outward to see that each of us are unique. It should be our effort to embrace the difference and to nurture it. There will be disagreement but there will also be room for compromise. All we have to do is to look beyond ourselves and see life out ahead of us.

So a big "Happy Birthday" shout out to you Dad and hoping that you get to see so many more. And just maybe you'll take a chance one day on a computer. Okay, we'll start with that cell phone thing first.

Love you.