Grandpa's 80th

Eighty years old is still young when you're talking to a 96-year-old. That's how old one of Grandpa's cousins is who came to his 80th birthday celebration. Yet 80 is huge, so the boys, Lois, uncle Larry and Aunt Pam, piled into our Honda Pilot and headed out to Bridgewater, SD for the celebration. Lois spent her first eight years in Liberia, Africa, where her parents were missionaries until they returned to the U.S. and settled in Grandpa's home town of Bridgewater. About seventy-five friends and family joined us at Trinity Orthodox Presbyterian Church to celebrate the day.

I had a senior moment in the program portion of the celebration. Calvin, Grandpa Dale's best friend from childhood, was up speaking. I turned to my son Aaron and said, "It's hard to imagine those guys running around when they were our age, isn't it?" Aaron looked at me with that "You're kidding, right?" look and said, "Our age?" I could have laughed and pretended like I was joking, but it shocked me too much because I realized I was indeed thinking of myself as Aaron's age (20). I guess I'm just young at heart. Yeah, that's it.