Dad Turns 75!

Sunday my dad celebrated his 75th birthday. This was really quite an accomplishment - in more ways than one. First of all, he was such a daredevil as a kid that the neighbors all called him "the damn fool Duerden kid!" My dad believed all of his life that he never would reach the age of 50. Since he made it so far past 50, I guess he decided to test his luck as much as possible and he had both major heart surgery and surgery for a broken neck within the last two years! Honestly, he really never should have survived many of the things that life threw his way. We call him the incredible, invincible man.
We celebrated his special day with dinner and games at my sister, Roxane's, house. We had my incredibly talented niece, Kristiann, make his cake - isn't it great? My dad just loves to fix lawn mowers, and spends many hours a day working on them - so this cake is just perfect! For our dinner Rox had planned a special treat. First she played a game in which we were asked things to see how well we knew dad. If we shouted out the correct answer, we received a meal coupon. After several questions we were instructed to sit in a circle, and then JoCee read a story in which we had to pass the coupons every time she said the word "right" or "left". Unfortunately several of us were left without coupons at the end of the story.

We then received a menu of sorts where we were instructed to choose several items such as "layered road kill" or "bubbling poison". We really had no idea what each item was.

Fortunately most of us made wise choices, however some of us had to pay the price. If we had food coupons, we could trade one for an item we needed, if not then we were just out of luck. Jeff and I ended up with with nothing to put our salad on, so we got our salads on napkins! Robin and Ashley both got butter and jelly, but no roll! I think that I suffered the most since I got two drinks - and no cup! They showed mercy on me and gave me water and Dr. Pepper in baggies. That was a real challenge to drink without spilling!



After dinner it was time for presents. Rylee and JoCee made the cutest candy bar poster. They were really creative!

Then Robin and Ashley went next. Surprise! They had made a candy bar poster too! How funny is that? It was amazing that their poster was totally different than Rylee and JoCee's!

Next it was time for Rox and I. Rox had a great idea, and we wrote and performed a song for dad. It was so much fun! It goes to the tune of "He's an Old Hippie" by the Belamy Brothers. Here are the words:

He turns 75 this Sunday
And his hair is gone to stay
But he still ain’t changed his wardrobe
He likes it better the old way
Now he has a few lawn mowers all around
And past the fence
He’s fixin and a mowin
now a days in self defense
From the constant pleas and orders
That just don’t make no sense

He gets off on sellin mowers
For some money or a kiss
He’s got a great collection
And mom is getting pissed
He seldom dreams at all now
Cuz he can’t get no sleep
He’s up at 3 am
He’s given up on countin' sheep
Yeah he thinks of life sometimes
But his thoughts he just can’t keep

Cuz he’s our old daddy and he don’t know what to do
Should he hang on to the old or try to find some new
He’s our old daddy, this new life is just to hard
He ain’t askin us for nothing, just let me fix mower in the yard

Well he’s taking care of mom now
Tryin’ hard not to forget
Exactly what foods to eat
And which will pose a threat
And he’s pushin round her wheelchair
Zoomin down the ramp too fast
And he listens to mom scream out loud
But he just has a blast
Oh he does just fine at givin shots
Before her meal is past

So he’s drivin her to doctors
Almost every week
For her leg or heart or kidney
All of which have gotten weak
But it’s all right to take the drive
It’s almost like a date
‘Cuz after her appointment
He’ll stop in at Harbor Freight
And find the latest bargain
For just a dollar eight!

Dad laughed and laughed! He said that he hadn't realized that he had so many quirks that we could poke fun at!

After presents, we all went downstairs for Around the World ping pong. Dad absolutely loves ping pong, and as kids he taught us all to play so that he could play against us. He got so good at playing us left handed that he is now almost as good with his left hand as he is with his right! We all had just a great time at the party that it was hard to leave! In fact, dad said that in all of his 75 years he has never had such a great party.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAD!