Today would have been my dad’s 90th birthday: he was born March 27, 1922. Here’s a picture in his later years.
Dad died in 2005. He lived a full life, for better or worse, from aircraft mechanic in World War II to microfilm salesman to vice president of a division at 3M. He loved his hobbies, puttering in garage or basement – when I was a kid he had classic and antique cars, but dagnabbit he got rid of them before I got my license. (I wonder why?) Then it was boats – he’d learned to sail on Long Island Sound, and taught us on the Chesapeake near Mount Vernon, then on Minnesota lakes, a houseboat on the St. Croix, and then sailing and rowing in Maryland, off the Cheseapeake near Annapolis.
I miss him.
In my college years, and after, I was the ever-rebellious anti-establishment type; he was the ever-positive Dale Carnegie “positive thinking” salesman. Sometimes when I railed against something, he’d ask: “What do you want? What change are you looking for?” (He strongly favored non-noisy / non-polluting forms of boating, but instead of 
attacking, he promoted his positive alternative: the “Société Nauticale de Propulsion Humaine,” with its faux French title and fake Latin motto on the button at left.)
I’d roll my adolescent eyes, but today his words live in the back of my mind, and sometimes come out of my mouth.
Yes, that’s NEXT MONDAY. Special Guest: “R A Warrior” Kelly Young! If you’ve seen my TEDx talk “Let Patients Help,” you’ll recall Kelly, who viewed her scan CDs (and whose doctor fired her). 
