Yesterday was my dad's 80th birthday! He's amazing! He's healthy & no signs of dimentia despite the 80 year old brain. I think its amazing to be 80 because he lived thru the 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s and now the 00s.
Our country has gone thru so many changes in those decades. My dad lived through WWII, the Great Depression, fought in the Korean War and earned a Purple Heart, and Vietnam.
Dad witnessed the amazing cars built in the 40s & 50s. He worked at a Detroit auto factory. He was also acab driver.
During the 60s he witnessed the transition of women's rights and the creation of the birth control mini pill. He witnessed segragation, the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., and how the African Americans gained their civil rights. He witnessed the election of John F. Kennedy as well as JFK's assassination. He lived through the Cuban Missile Crisis. He witnessed NASA send astronauts to the moon and all the previous rocket launches, including the most famous, the Apollo 11 mission.
He had an amazing time in the 70s through the disco era.
During the 80s he lived through the Reagan years, the Cold War, the war on drugs, and the Iran Contra Affair. He witnessed the very first Space Shuttle mission, Columbia. He also witnessed the explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger. He witnessed the creation of the Atari 2600 video game system and Pac Man along with the birth of the Apple Computer. He also witnessed the first attack on the World Trade Center.
In the 90s he saw the Gulf War. He witnessed the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building known as the Oklahoma City Bombing. He watched me graduate high school in 91 and then my brother in 95. He had 3 more grandchildren born in 92, 96, and 99; my three children. He also witnessed the beginning of the internet revolution.
In the 2000s he saw the internet begin to boom. He became accustomed to using a computer and discovered the deals on eBay. In 2001 he saw the tragedy and demise of the World Trade Center. He witnessed the war in Afghanistan and the war in Iraq. Witnessed the deaths of Uday & Qusai Hussein and the capture of one the world's most renowned and feared leaders, Saddam Hussein. He witnessed how terrorism changed National Security & people's lives here in America.
There were so many other events that changed the course of history in America. Many presidential elections as well as the deaths of many Presidents. He's lived through so many technological, medical, and military breakthroughs.
Cheers to my dad and another 20 years to be 100, a century old!! I love you Daddy ♥
