I decided to cease writing things in this blog that concern politics, Army policy, or anything too serious or mind boggling. Much of what I read in the news today is the latter, and it's starting to give me a "serious case of the ass" ... an Army term that was popular in my time in service. So, I'll stick to things more light hearted for awhile.
In that regard, I just turned 65. I remember having a party thrown for me by friends and family when I turned 40, and again at 50. Those were military times, and as such I did not feel that old, because I could "max" out the Army PT test, and run 4-5 miles daily.
When I hit the big "six-oh", my family had a party for me, but it was no big deal. By that time there was no way I could still max the PT test, and I had ceased running, substituting 2-3 mile brisk walks each morning with my dog Mystee (our wonderful female Alaskan Malamute).
Last week was number "six-five" for me, and my wife and I planned to spend the evening at a local Chinese restaurant with my oldest daughter and her three kids; one home on vacation from Virginia Tech, one a Sophomore in high school, and one in eighth grade. We drove to pick up my daughter and kids, and when we arrived I found the inside of the house festooned with black balloons, black paper ribbons, and other assorted things appropriate to the occasion. I was presented with a small cone-shaped hat to wear that said Happy 65th Birthday. The others wore Pirates of the Carribean hats, and we had party favors with the movie "Cars" theme...paper plates and napkins. And this was all before we were to go to dinner!
The Chinese dinner was great, and I was a amazed at how much Jennifer (VA Tech student) ate, in relation to what I was used to seeing in the past. I asked her if she got enough food at school, and she said "yes, but I ran low on money the last couple of days." Good thing she came home on break!
After we returned home, we ate my birthday Apple pie with ice cream, and they sang Happy-Happy, etc, while I blew out the candles. I had forgotten to make a wish, so my wife said the candles could be reused, since they still had a wish in them. I did not know that superstition existed.
So, all in all it was a great 65th birthday for me. My next birthday milestone I guess is 70. But my wife Barb turns 65 herself next May, so we have lots of time until then to plan something special for her too.
