26th Anniversary of My Father's Death

Today is the 26th Anniversary of my father's death. 

Henry Joseph Tobelmann, Jr., February 3, 1926-November 14, 1989.

I wrote about it in 2009 when it was the 20th Anniversary of his death. You can read all about it HERE.

This was the last picture taken of my father, out in his back yard by the pond on the golf course.
It was October 1989. He was 63 years old. That's just a little over a year older than I am now.

This was my father's picture and write up in his 1943 yearbook.
He did a lot. He was also voted Best Dancer and Most Likely to Succeed.

                          

                 This is my dad in his Navy uniform.
He served in the Great Lakes camp in Michigan during WWII.

When he got out of the Navy at the end of WWII, he went on to college on the GI bill.
This is my father's graduation picture from Villanova University in about 1949-50.
He got a job at Lukens Steel Company right away. That's where my grandfather worked, too.
He retired early in 1988 after coding from a minor hernia operation.
He took that as an omen, and my parents moved to Palm Coast, Florida. He died in 1989.
I'm glad he had a year and a half of retired life to enjoy.

Friday the 13th

Some trivia about Friday the 13th:

1) Friggatriskaidekaphobia is the fear of Friday the 13th. Almost 20 million Americans have figgatriskaidekaphobia, which is also called paraskavedekatriaphobia. Those who don’t mind
Friday, but fear the number 13, have triskaidekaphobia.

2) Since there’s such a fear of the number 13 among Americans, there are many infrastructures that leave off that number. For instance, many hospitals don’t have room number 13, and there is usually not a 13th floor. In tall buildings, the 13th floor is typically skipped and some airlines don't have a Gate 13.

3) There can be more than one Friday the 13th in a year. In 2015, there were three, which is the most that can occur. There is at least one Friday the 13th per year.

4) Butch Cassidy, Infamous American train and bank robber, was born Friday April 13, 1866.

You're welcome
smile emoticon

Blooming Where I've Been Planted

This rings so true for me. There were times I was so depressed, I felt as if I was sinking in quicksand and I couldn't find any foothold with which to boost myself upward. I felt buried, but not only buried, but that pernicious roots and vines had engulfed me, wrapping around my whole body to keep me in my underground tomb.
In hindsight, I realize it as the refiner's fire taking me to a place I needed to be to realize I didn't want to be there anymore.
Now I am planted in a home 2,000 miles away from where I started, and blooming beautifully.