Unaccustomed as I am...

Today is my birthday, so instead of sharing a story about a guy who grew a turnip that looks just like Mark Zuckerberg, or a new way of frying an egg by using the dish heater setting on the dishwasher, or railing about the complete disregard for pronunciation and grammar displayed by news anchors, baseball announcers, and the people who answer the phone for multinational corporations, or trying to inveigle my dear readers into watching one of my beloved offbeat quirky movies (The Big Hit, They All Laughed, Ghost World), I am going to tell you, in my standard logorrheic style, how happy I am to be here as I reach three score and ten.

For one thing, I am happy to be alive! A lot of people my age are not, and that includes many a guy or girl I went to school with. A lot of my friends are gone. Some died very young, and some have just recently stepped off the stage, but I miss them all. It's almost laughable how, at 17, I thought I was going to live forever, and very soon came to learn that was not the case. The words of Mickey Mantle ring true now: "If I had known I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care of myself." 

Sorry to say this, Yankee fans, but Mantle was a reprobate, a pixillated playboy in pinstripes. We who grew up in Baltimore were lucky to see the example of guys like Brooks Robinson, Frank Robinson, Johnny Unitas, Cal Ripken Sr. and Jr.  And Art Donovan, whose jersey number takes on a certain significance today!

They were guys who got to be great because they worked for it day after day. To this day, I wonder how Cal Jr can keep from laughing when he hears about some 24-year-old needing "a day off" after playing baseball for several nights in a row. Cal played 2,632 games in a row and did not need "a day off."

That was the good thing about growing up in Baltimore, Towson, to be specific. We always felt we had the best of everything, but we did not strut around saying we were the best of everything. I wouldn't trade my growing up for any other. My Towson was sort of like Mayberry, as I look back - a small town with quirks and heart. The schools were great, and I never drive past Hampton Elementary or Towson High without having the urge to go in and walk those halls one more time. My junior high, Towsontown, is but a memory now, torn down to build Carver Center, where young people can learn everything from culinary arts to cosmetology to acting, singing, and writing. Great schools, all of them. 

And their purpose was to prepare us for life and work. Before I was even employed, I was a proud volunteer firefighter and that remains a huge part of my being. From the days when I was a clerk at the A&P Supermarket - a union man at 17! - to my days in radio, teaching radio, time in police and fire communications for the County and as facilities manager and, later, a public information specialist for the Health Department, I put in time enough to pension out at 60 and here I am, enjoying life as a retiree, cranking out my blog, posting pictures and quotes, and fooling around reading, listening to music, playing with the cats, staying in touch with the people I love all over the world.

Speaking of people I love...I begin my septuagenarian status together for 48 of those years with the most wonderful woman on earth. Peggy and I went on a blind date that has lasted since June 21, 1973, because we simply and frankly fell in love at first sight, and even though we both still wear glasses, that sight has never dimmed. If you've met me, you know that life with me will mean a lot of commotion and a lot of laughing and a ton of talking...and not one time have we ever had to "talk about working on our relationship" or taken a course in effective marital communications. We say what we want, and since what we want is what's best for each other, no problem.

I can say I've been lucky. I never won a Dodge or anything, but I won a set of car ramps at Pep Boys on Joppa Rd once, and a few dollars came my way from football pools. I have been lucky enough to have two legs and two arms and two ears and two eyes and one half-decent brain. I have always had the jobs I wanted, seen the things I wanted to see, read the books I wanted to, heard my music. People have been very good to me and I have tried to reciprocate in kind. 

Some say, "You've missed out by never visiting Europe or owning a mountain resort or tasting the great food and wines of France." Cape May and Ocean City suit us fine. I don't need a house in the hills; I love this house so much. It has all my stuff in it! And with so many great places to eat here (including our own kitchen!) and I am happy with iced tea, seltzer and cold beer.

That's really all I set out to say. 70 years of happiness as of today, and I thank you for being the best part of it!

And one more quote from Yogi: "If the world were perfect, it wouldn’t be."

I think it's as close to perfect as it's ever going to be!