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Quote of the Day: Days to Go
“Four-hundred thirty-five days to go.” — My Dad
Today is my father’s birthday.
When Dad was getting close to qualifying for retirement, he counted down the days. I think the countdown started about two years before he reached the right age. Every morning, we would hear pronouncements, such as: 435 days to go! When that day finally came, he did not put in the paperwork. But he was happy to know that he could retire any day in the future of that time that he wanted. I believe it was about four years later when he finally did retire.
There is something about Dad that he needs to have his countdown to his goals. Close to thirty years ago, he was able to say, “Well, I’ve lived longer than Mom.” At this point, even I am older than my paternal grandmother lived to be. His goal is to live longer than his maternal grandfather. His paternal grandfather died at age 24 of lead poisoning. (East St. Louis was a tough place to live even then. And, no, I don’t mean the slow, Flint-style lead poisoning, either.) After that for ages to achieve were his mother (53), father (60), maternal grandmother (80), paternal grandmother (85), and then Gramps, who lived to be close to 89. Dad still has a bit over two years to pass his longer-living grandmother and close to six years to win his ultimate goal. I hope, as with his retirement, that he’ll stick around after he makes his goal, at least for awhile.
Two-thousand, one-hundred, ninety-two days to go, Pop.
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Good one.
May he have many, many more years.
(At least until he gets your deal straightened out.)
That could take millennia!
My dad likes to say that he wants to make it to at least 74 so that he can beat his old man. I tell him he better make it to at least 82, so that he’ll be able to see all of his kids make it to 40.
Well, my father has surpassed all of those marks. Hope yours does, too.
Happy birthday to your pops. I often wish my dad was still here, mom too.
May he have many more.
Thank you.
Way to go Dad.
My grandma is in her 80s and she’s started making references to no longer being here. I just keep telling her she’s immortal.
I have an acquaintance who is three months older than my father. He often makes comments about being too old to do things. I always give him what for about it.
May he reach that goal and beyond!
(He’s blessed to have a good cheerleading team behind him:)
My motto is: Immortality or die in the attempt.
I like this! My husband hates celebrating his birthday, so we do it in reverse now. xx years til retirement, and we deduct 1 every year :)
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOUR DAD!
I grew up without one, so I can’t relate when people talk about theirs. Just be Thankful for all you have. Having people who Love you makes you, as was said of George Bailey, The Richest (person) In Town!!
Indeed, I feel incredibly lucky to still have both parents at my age. It was certainly not the case with my parents. My father had lost his mother when he was 29 and his father when he was 35. My mother lost her father when she was 14 and her mother when she was 37. So, being over fifty and still having both is certainly a blessing.
Life can be so incredibly sad. God Bless You!
I became an orphan at age 66. Mom and Dad died within 3 months of each other (and they had had their first child (me) at ages 25 and 30). It was even harder than I expected, and I still haven’t gotten used to it.
I read somewhere about patients that are terminally ill. Men are likely to try to live long enough to meet a milestone. For example, making it to Labor Day, or Christmas or their next birthday or a grandchild’s graduation. Women are more likely to try NOT to make it to a milestone, especially a birthday. My mother was an example. She died one day before she turned 89 years old. She just didn’t want to be “that old.”
My great grandmother tried to wait for her oldest grandchildren to get busy and make a baby. They never got around to it and she got tired of waiting.
This is so interesting. But don’t tell this to a liberal. Men and women are exactly the same, don’t you know! They may get traumatized!
Called my father up at his birth time, exactly when he changed years. It was a good conversation.
My grandfather wanted to hold on long enough to make it through 1 last Christmas, his favorite time of year. He did so, but most of the family remembers it as one of the most tense and awful such Christmases. He was in a great deal of pain and argued and snapped at everyone. My sister remembers him yelling at her over what a stupid gift she gave him, and being 5 at the time it was a lasting and painful memory.
He made it through to January 7, just a couple of weeks shy of his 74th birthday.
Day late. Two-thousand, one-hundred, ninety-one days to go–may they all be hale and hearty days for your father.
Thank you.
Happy, healthy and blessed natal anniversary – and year ahead – to your esteemed sire, @arahant!
My dad’s two brothers died in their 50s. (Hard living and heart history don’t mix) My dad died at 67. But after he made 60, he was pretty fatalistic that he could go at any time. Because of his family history, he took Social Security at 62 and retired early. He spent the next five years as the resident cajun at his Florida golf retirement community. He told me several times he was living on “borrowed” time. I sure miss him! I’m so glad your dad has such laudable goals of reaching 90!