On this Date in History

Summer 1971 on the Julia Belle Swain.

 According to britannica.com, these are several things that happened September 20.

 The second most important thing September 20, was in 1519 when Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan left Spain, the first man to sail around the world.

 September 20, 1973, Billie Jean King beat Bobby Riggs in a tennis match that was nationally televised and called The Battle of the Sexes.

 People born September 20 include author Upton Sinclair in 1878, actress Sophia Loren in 1934, and George R.R. Martin, a writer who became famous for his writings that became Game of Thrones. 

 Meanwhile in Libertyville, Illinois at Condell Memorial Hospital I was born at 9:25 pm September 20, 1963.

Age 16, Junior year.

My folks lived in Mundelein, Illinois while Dad worked at Fansteel.  He took a job in Janesville, Wisconsin six months later to be sure I would grow up a Packer fan (at least that's my spin on the reason).

58 years and 6 months later, here I am living in Wisconsin for the third, and hopefully final, time.

My fifties were more like my forties.  I started a new job in 2003 and in 2012 we made the move to Madison.  Now in my eleventh year at Oakwood, I enjoy what I do and would like to spend the next ten years serving people who live there.  That depends on a variety of factors, like health, family, and whether or not Oakwood keeps me around.

We live in the best home we've had in terms of its size, cost, and location.  We enjoy living in Madison and south Wisconsin. 

Most of the time I don't feel my age.  It helps I don't have aches and pains to speak of, in fact, my last bout of sciatica was more than 10 years ago!  I'm thankful for the blessing of good health.

There are times it seems I'm forgetting things frequently - some or most of that is natural aging but a consequence of working in a retirement community is knowing about memory loss and dementia.  My prayer is that's not the road I'm traveling.  At this point it isn't.

Gatlinburg, 7/11/23

 I appreciate colleagues in my age group (anyone within ten years is 'my' age) because we understand the same cultural references and know about dial telephones and when calling long distance was a thing.

 There are quite a few co-workers younger than my children, so I learn new cultural references.  I don't think age is an issue, we have things in common as individuals and a collective concern for the people we serve bind us together.

 I'm aware of being 'the get off my lawn guy.'  I try to recognize it when that happens and either provide context, or keep my mouth shut before sharing my opinion.

The biggest thing the next ten years might share with the past ten is that it's hard to believe I'm as old as the original birth certificate that told me I was born in Condell Memorial Hospital.  (By the way, the hospital is around, doing business as the Advocate Condell Medical Center.)

Thanks for reading, thanks for being a friend.  I hope you have (or had) a great 60th of your own.