Happy Birthday, Dad


This was also pulled off the emails from last summer.  (I didn't have a digital camera until this year.)

Happy Birthday today, to my Dad.  The hair has been this length forever, only my mother can cut it the way he likes.  He has been asked at various times by small children if he is a) Santa Claus, b) Grandpa Walton, c) Colonel Sanders.  He wears bow ties and not neckties, and he loves madras cotton plaids.  I can remember when his hair was salt-and-pepper and there were a few reddish hairs in his mustache, but then I am the oldest. He was already gray when he got married.

One of the greatest birthday cards he ever got was from my mother's parents on his 39th birthday.  You have to be old enough to get the joke:  Jack Benny was very big, and his schtick was that he was stingy, deadpan, played the violin (barely), and he insisted he was an obviously false 39 years old.

This card said on the front, "You don't look 39..." inside, when you opened it, it declared, "But I can remember when you did!  Happy Birthday!"  He howled, showed us, and let us all laugh at the joke about his white hair.

We won't be gathered for this one from all over, but that big anniversary is coming soon, and so are we.  Meanwhile, he will be off to his favorite Chinese restaurant tonight for a celebration dinner.  Have a great time, Dad!  Glad I belong to you.

Comments

  1. Don MeyerJune 5, 2012 at 9:17 AM

    I've never met your Dad, but he was at least partly responsible for my starting my blog. I have it written up somewhere on the computer, so if you are interested, let me know.

    As for Jack Benny and his famous 39th birthday, the greeting on my ice cream cake the other day read,
    "Happy 43rd anniversary of 39th birthday"

    ReplyDelete
  2. AlisonHJune 9, 2012 at 12:34 PM

    I do not remember that card but that was perfect!

    ReplyDelete

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