Happy 69th Birthday Dad

Today we headed into the city to celebrate my father's 69th birthday. I can't believe that he's 69 already, it seems like just a few weeks ago that it was his 30th birthday and he sitting on a little chair with his head in his hands lamenting the fact that he was already 30. I was about 10 at the time and didn't understand what the big deal was.

showing me how to be a doctor
(dad was in med school when I was a baby)

I grew up in the era when fathers didn't get particularly involved with their children but as I got older he taught me trigonometry when I was years too young to learn it at school, he tried to teach me to play the trumpet (not much luck there - I'm not musical at all), he helped me make an abacus for a science project, he helped me to make an altimeter for another science project, and the list goes on. He was always generous with letting us play with his "toys" - did I want to take the boat out for the weekend? Did I want to test drive his new motorcycle? Most importantly of all, he made me feel that I could do anything I wanted if I tried. It never came up that I was a girl and that some things weren't "girl" things - it was only after I was older and had left home that I saw this gender bias. Here's wishing him happy birthday and many many more to come.

Today's word of the day is harbinger (HAHR-bun-jer noun - 1: one that pioneers in or initiates a major change : precursor ; 2: one that presages or foreshadows what is to come). Is the revolt in Egypt a harbinger of what is to come in the middle east? Were the revolts in Tunisia the harbinger of change in the Middle East? Did it foretell the changes in Egypt, and perhaps more countries to come? I hope and pray that things will go well for them. So much of what we in the Western world take for granted are being fought for by the people in these countries - things like freedom of religion and speech, a democratic government - a say.

My pleasures today: having a good conversation with my mother ; finding just the shelf I was looking for at Home Depot ; going into Princess Auto and finding the perfect little clamps on sale - perfect for camping tarps.