1YAT: Happy Birthday Dad

One year ago, I wrote Happy Birthday Dad:

I saw that the date today is February 20th and I remembered that today was a great American’s birthday, but I couldn’t recall whose. Was it George Washington’s birthday, or Abraham Lincoln’s? Then it hit me: "Oh it’s my father’s birthday, and I forgot to send a card." It happens each year.

My father certainly qualifies as a great American. He fought with distinction during WWII. He did cutting-edge scientific research on boundary layer behavior and heat ablation for the infant space program. He created numerous inventions for the various companies and organizations that employed him. And when he came home from a long day’s work, we worked several more hours at home creating gadgets for improving our quality of life. He invented one of the very first automatic sprinkler systems more than fifty years ago. He never profited from it, he made it just for our home.

Anyway, I just wanted to show my appreciation to this great American, my Dear Old Dad (DOD). And Dad, I wonder what the Post Office did with your card?

By an odd coincidence, it happens to be my father's birthday again this year on this day. And even more odd, the post office seems to have lost my card to my father again this year.

My father's health is not as good as it was last year. This year, we are not asking him to travel to spend time with us during my son's spring break. We'll have to make a trip to Seattle some time.