Dad’s been gone for almost nine years. He would be 90 today. One thing I know with a fair amount of certainty — he would hate the world of 2020. That a vulgar sociopath is president would be a shock to him, that the vulgar sociopath is Donald Trump would take it to a new level. He would ask, I am sure, “What did you expect?” Oh, I can hear it, “The guy is a narcissistic clown, a known conman, a pervert, a complete phony, yet you elected him President?” Not me dad, no way could I ever vote for such a man. But yes, the country, via the electoral college, elected Donald Trump as President of the United States.

So, today, on what would be his 90th birthday, I sit and marvel at what has become “normal,” from our president and wonder what my father would have thought. I think I know. The above would be pretty close, but who knows? If he watched Fox News, listened to Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, maybe I would be all wrong in my fantasy birthday dialogue. I say that because there are plenty of people who I thought wouldn’t sit still for a moment with such a man as president, not only sit still, they actively support this man. Oh, and if I told him that many of these supporters of Donald Trump are Christians? And they make excuses for his toddler-like behavior and claim that God is using him?

Dad? You there? Hello, Dad? Yeah. Pretty much my thoughts too. It’s crazy hard to believe in too many ways to count.

Anyway, 90 years old today.
Dare I say,  I’m glad he’s not here to see all this?

Oh Dad, (back to the fantasy), if you can still hear me, there was no Kentucky Derby in May.  They have postponed it until September. A big maybe, like everything else, because of the pandemic. Oh! I didn’t mention the pandemic?

The photograph is my dad in 1949 as a proud member of the University of Oklahoma track team.