Today would be father's 100th birthday. This occurred to me last month as I attended my husband's aunt's 95th birthday dinner in Naples, Fl. and as I walked the beach that day, I calculated that my father had been born in 1910. My sister Suzanne had thought about it also I learned in a later phone conversation, and I wanted to post this remembrance.What an amazing century to live in. Dad used to tell me about when their home as children was "electrified." He and his teenage friends bought a used Model-T Ford for $5 and his buddy fell off the running board and broke a leg. His father died of an infection that began in a tooth, pre-antibiotics. His mother did the laundry for a family of nine before the amazing washers and dryers of today. Once a year the rugs were hung outside to be "beaten" because Stanley Steamer didn't exist. Fresh fruit and vegetables were stored in the cellar at the end of harvest and the idea of a fresh orange and an apple in your Christmas stocking was because they were such rare and expensive treats mid winter. You didn't run to the store and make a salad for dinner. Food was homemade (and delicious I am sure if made by my Swedish grandmother).
My father lived through WWI, the Great Depression, WWII, air travel, the first man on the moon and so much invention that I cannot begin to name. He remembered when neighbors cared for neighbors and there was no Social Security or welfare. He did not glorify the past and talked of hard times that people experienced. He was part of the post WWII boom and returned to build a home, work, raise a family, take us on yearly vacations, put children through college and experience a "snow bird" retirement lifestyle. All good. And, he managed to live his whole life and never once use a computer as far as I know. And, also never swear once in front of me (although my son Matt did hear him mutter one, once, when missing the coin drop on the Fl. turnpike). So, here's to you Dad. Happy 100th. Quite a century. Quite a life.
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