As some may know from a previous post or two, today is my 70th birthday, meaning I have reached the Biblical measure of a man’s life , although I have reasonable hope that I will not expire at midnight.
Because today both my wife and I had to work, as we will tomorrow, the major part of our celebration began yesterday, and I will share that anon, somewhat further down this post, which will be VERY image heavy.
One of the great enjoyments of the day has been receiving birthday wishes from across my life — these go back to people I have known since childhood through students during my 20 years of teaching, and include professional colleague, college classmate, online friends, and more. Let me start by sharing a few of these, all from former students, at least to start:
Happy birthday to a great teacher and role model!
I hope you have a fantastic birthday!
Happy birthday, Mr. Bernstein!
There were a few of these — it is hard to persuade some former students that now that they are adults, some in their mid 30s, it is okay to call me Ken. For some, I will always have the first name of Mister.
Happy Birthday! I am still grateful for what you taught me!
From some not my students. First from a high school classmate
Happy 70th!
You finally caught up to the rest of your
Classmates.
I was a year younger than most of them, having skipped 6th grade.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Kenneth! Turning 70 is like turning 21 in Celsius. Celebrate your BIG “7-O” in style and enjoy a very special milestone day. Welcome to your new decade!
That was from a good friend of ours from the church where we were married, and accompanied by a picture of a cake appropriately labeled for the occasion!
There is more to the day
Driving out to where we stayed overnight and had dinner, and on the way back home this morning, I was largely playing the 50s stations on SiriusXM. My wife was born in 1957. Some of the songs whose words I still clearly remember are from before she was born. I remember songs from more than 60 years ago.
So a few thoughts popped into my mind, which give me a sense of the span of my life.
I began rooting for the Milwaukee Braves in 1956, when I first saw Henry Aaron in a game on TV> That’s 60 years ago.
I graduated from high school 53 years ago, and next year will be the 50th anniversary of my original class at Haverford graduating, although I did not myself make it for another 6 years.
I clearly remember “Satisfaction” being the dominant rock hit of 1965 — 51 years ago.
I enlisted in the Marines 23 June 1965 — just about 51 years ago.
I have been alive through the presidencies of Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, the first Bush, Clinton (hopefully the first), the 2nd Bush, and Obama.
I clearly remember Sputnik, and Alan Shepherd as the first American in space, and Neil Armstrong stepping on the moon.
I met Babe Ruth.
My relationship with Leaves on the Current begins with a chance encounter at a train station in Bryn Mawr PA Sept 21, 1974. We did know one another slightly, our first date was the following Friday, Sept 27, and we have been together ever since.
Today I had two classes of students. The first all insisted on singing a very loud rendition of Happy Birthday. In the 2nd several gave me small gifts, like a Hershey Bar, and a couple tried to give me hugs (which unfortunately under school rules I had to decline).
This evening I stopped by the National Democratic Club on Capitol Hill, where Leaves and I had a light supper. I could not buy a drink, the night manager wanted to give me cake. And Leaves promises there is one more part to my celebration after I finish posting this.
Leaves asked me to trust her. She made arrangements for dinner and a place to stay.
We had about an hour drive, with some misdirection, went into and then out of Middleburg Virginia, until we arrived at Goodstone Inn and Restaurant, which is on some 265 acres on a hill above Middleburg.
This is what it looked like when we arrived at the building with registration and the restaurant:
We then followed the concierge down to what is called the Spring House, a building about ½ a mile away, with 5 separate rooms and shared common spaces. This is what it looked like as we arrived:
As you can see from the front of the building, Goodstone provides bicycles which one can use to explore the property — there are also hiking trails (and walking sticks were provided) but it was raining, and the ground was slick when we arrived:
Here are several pictures of the inside, first of the common spaces:
and that’s a gas fireplace.
We had a private bath with a jacuzzi, of which I took full advantage after dinner:
We went up to the main building early and stopped for a drink at the bar. Here’s Leaves:
Here's the dining room:
They had a special menu for us:
By the way, the Wild Mushroom Strudel appetizer was delicious, and was part of the four courses to which we were each entitled under the Prix Fixe meal. We shared a Chateaubriand (I had most of the meat), but different dishes for the other courses. As it happened my desert was a cheese plate, which presented a small problem, which they addressed by bringing out this:
Note the candle on the side of the dish to recognize the occasion properly.
I have more photos, but this should give you a sense.
We already plan to return for a full weekend to celebrate when Leaves finishes this round of chemo - and when she can fully taste things again!
My wonderful wife gave me a wonderful birthday.
We waited until midnight to officially welcome the occasion.
I feel blessed by all I received on this occasion.
I feel appreciated.
l most definitely feel loved.
Thank you so much, Leaves!
Peace.