It Was a Very Good Year

March 6. The birthday of Alan Greenspan, Rob Reiner, the Oreo cookie, and–me. Of all these, I’m the kid sister.

How old am I, you ask? It’s not a deep dark secret. I’m not one of those perpetually 29 types. But let’s make it fun. With the following clues and a half-hearted internet search, you can figure it out for yourself.

The year I was born, Beetle Bailey, Dennis the Menace, and Charlie Brown all first appeared in the funny papers.

Two of that year’s new ideas changed how Americans lived.  The first was Zenith’s debut of a TV remote control, which was quickly dubbed the “lazy bones tuner.” That started a degeneration, dare I say, to the point where now if we can’t find the remote we ransack the family room and holler for the kids to find it because we can’t change the channel. Sure, I use one, too, but isn’t this a bit silly? As that round-headed kid would say, good grief.

The second, more seismic shift was something called a charge card, soon to morph into the credit card as we know it. Two hundred privileged businessmen received the brand new cardboard Diners Club card that year, good in 27 New York City restaurants. The rest, as they say, is history.

Other momentous happenings that year: Mother Teresa opened her first Mission of Charity in Calcutta, India, and the United States sent 35 advisors to a little country in Southeast Asia called Vietnam.

This birthday is a milestone to me. For one thing, it ends in a zero (ahem). For another, both of my parents exited this life in the decade I’m now entering, a fact I try not to think about too much. What we do with life is, after all, more important than its sheer length. Besides, my Aunts Helen and Kathleen have eyes that still twinkle at 89 and 94. Who knows? Someone else has my days numbered, not me.

With my own twinkle I say, “Onward.”

Carol Willis is a freelance writer and editor. She specializes in written communications for businesses and nonprofits and other editorial projects. Carol also is the development director at Church Community Services.