Today is my birthday.  I was born on November 21, 1952.  On the day I was born, the United States Post Office issued the first two color stamp, using the rotary printing process.  Man, a lot has changed since that day.  I was born in the middle of the Korean War.  I was born 2 years before my uncle Don, the greatest guy I have ever known.  I was born 6 years before I practiced “duck and cover” exercises in elementary school to protect against the nuclear bomb attack that we were SURE was coming.  I was born 9 years before the Bay of Pigs, maybe the most critical foreign relations disaster in our hemisphere in my lifetime.  I was born 11 years before the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, an event that sent everyone in my generation into tears.  I was born about 15 years before Neil Diamond wrote “Sweet Caroline”, a tribute to our late president’s young daughter.  I was born 17 years before the Tet Offensive during the Vietnam war, a time that terrified everyone my age.  I was born 18 years before Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, the event that created the most national pride for my generation.  I was born 29 years before IBM introduced the first “personal computer”, making the PC available to the masses (It took me another 15 years to realize that this was a big deal).  I was born 25 and 30 years respectively before the births of my two kids, absolutely the coolest thing that has ever happened to me.  I was born 41 years before the first attack on the World Trade Center, the event that made me realize that terrorism is a world-wide concern.  I was born 49 years before the final attack on the World Trade Centers, the one that worked, the one that finally made the world realize that worldwide terrorism is a war.

This is going to be a cool birthday.  I feel much better than I felt six months ago.  My kids are home.  Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, my favorite food day.  Jan is cooking big and our table will be full.  There is not a thing in the world that I need or want, so whatever gifts I open will be great and unexpected.  Actually, it probably doesn’t get much better than this.  I am glad today is my birthday.  I am glad I made it this far.

Oh, some other cool people also share my birthday today….Ken Griffy, Jr, a great baseball player…Dick Durban, bad politician….Voltaire, French philosopher…Goldie Hawn, Laughin girl…Nicollette Sheridan, the witch of Wisteria Lane…Chris Moneymaker, the first internet poker player to make it big…David Tua, boxer and tough character…and Elizabeth George Speare, prolific American author of children’s books.

Some people also left this world on my birthday…Bill Bixby, the Incredible Hulk, Max Baer, a tough boxer, and just one year ago today, Robert Lockwood, Jr. (or “Robert Junior” after the great guitarist Robert Johnson), a great jazz guitar player.

Phil Ellis

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