Happy Birthday

Today my father is 84!

I’m always a bit amazed when I think over Dad’s life experiences. He was born in Arkansas, back when it was still a very normal thing for Arkansas farmers to use mules, not tractors. He remembers his great grandfather who was a veteran of the Civil War – and a POW (and fought for the North).

Dad remembers sitting beside his mother during the depression as she played the piano at a local department store to sell sheet music and help support her family. He remembers moving to Michigan so his father could get a job with General Motors. Dad quit high school to join the Navy in World War II, and the Navy subsequently paid his way through college. He married his college sweetheart and together they raised five children in the little Michigan town where my dad taught agriculture and shop and science at the local school.

My dad is a Christian. His faith is central to his life, and he raised us as believers. He also raised us to find the joy in life. We always had time for an ice cream break or a game or a sing-along or just for being silly. We always had a passel of kids at our house. I remember one high school boy who came over about a week after his own father had died suddenly of a heart attack. I remember that he and my dad talked and talked and talked. I remember my dad sitting with his shoulders hitched sideways like he was  trying to shield that boy from the pain of his loss. 

I remember my dad receiving a note from a former student who began his letter with, “Dear Mac, You were right. I’m in jail…” My dad wrote back, kept in touch, believed in him. That kid pulled himself up by his bootstraps and went on to live a good and productive life. Not just because of Dad, but yet…

Gratitude? Yes, that’s my middle name… Just kidding, and no, not kidding at all.

Happy Birthday, Dad!! Yee Haw for the Big 8 – 4!

Blessings, Sue