I WILL BE 50 IN NINE YEARS, BUT MY WIFE IS ALMOST 21.

He sized us up carefully, inspecting the details for accuracy, then pointed to his mother.

"You,"
he said wisely,
"look like you're in your 20s."

His infinite judgment came to rest on me.

"And you,"
he pronounced with gravitas.
"Definitely look like you're in your 50s."

I'll let him argue with my birth certificate.* Maybe he'll run for President someday.

_____

*which says 40 even, but those can be wildly misleading, of course
Edit

FILE UNDER: THINGS I'VE LEARNED TODAY.

Daddy,
he said.
Guess what? Adolf Hitler was 56 when he died, and that was also the same age that Abraham Lincoln was when he died, so he was just a little bit older than you! Fifty-six!

Oh.
I said.
I will be 40 later this year, so it seems like that's still a little ways off.

Yeah.
he said.
If he hadn't died than he would have been 57 next.

Yep.
I said.
That's also a little ways off.

MEILANI #24

Steve, Colette, Meilani, Jonny / photo: joseph ivan long ©2013

I remember the first time I met her. At an ice skating rink. She was about fifteen.

Nine years later, and I am so glad she is my vivacious, mischievous, one-of-a-kind sister-in-law. What a great addition to the family.

Happy b-day, Meilani.

RETURNING FROM BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION (SEE ABOVE) TWO HOURS AFTER BEDTIME. WITH SCIMITAR AND GRANDFATHER.