91st Birthday Season Kicks Off

After my preview presentation of Ordinary People in Altenburg Tuesday night, the staff of the Lutheran Heritage Center and Museum surprised Mother with a cake, flowers and balloon, kicking off the start of her 91st Birthday Season. Several of Wife Lila’s Class of ’66 showed up, including Terry Hopkins, who came all the way from Florida.

Friend Shari and her mother attended. It’s not often that someone can say that his first high school girlfriend and his last high school girlfriend are attending an event. Brother Mark came down from St. Louis.

A very receptive group of 37 (if I heard correctly) watched my photos and videos and listened to my war stories. They were actually TOO receptive. My goal was to figure out how to cut about 30 minutes from a presentation I did this summer. Riding Partner Anne warned me that if I played off my audience’s reaction, I was going to go long, not short. That’s exactly what happened. Now I have 46 minutes to cut. I needed someone to yawn or check their watch to clue me in that the listeners were getting restless.

Thanks to Carla Jordan and her staff for doing a great job hanging my photos, offering hat-stretching compliments and recognizing Mother’s Birthday Season. I would go into more detail, but my brain is fried. I don’t see how teachers do this kind of thing every day.

7 Replies to “91st Birthday Season Kicks Off”

  1. What a wonderful group of folks to host at the museum this evening. Awesome job, Ken. I hope your lovely mom has the best year ever.

  2. I counted 35 at one point. I should have sat near the front. Then you might have seen me checking my watch.

    Yet a 30-minute drive back to Cape would be nothing compared to you coming up from Florida.

    You shared how news photographers only worked 300 seconds a year, five minutes, based on an average 1/125-second shutter speed used for five or six rolls of film shot per day. That was before you retired.

    We work much longer these days with digital cameras.

    What was that exact computation?

  3. Mary Leigh belated birthday wishes. Daisy and you celebrated many bd . Many wishes for good health and happy memories of our parents in Advance.

  4. Sorry I did not make it up–had very late customer.
    Tell your mom happy birthday! I hope I am so lucky to do as well as she for so long!

  5. Thanks for inviting me to the start of the Birthday season! I did enjoy your presentation and so the hour and 45 minutes on a church pew was nothing…nothing at all for poor recovering car wreck victim.
    Let us know when you do it for real!!!
    I did meet one of my former swimmers from the Capaha Pool. Ginny Wrape was an eight and under when I a lad as teh swim coach. She was a very good swimmer and turned into a very nice adult. her Brother Skip also swam for me in those years, seems like yesterday the the both of them plus about 60 or 70 more were all lined up on the pool deck at 7:00am doing warm ups before getting into the water. It is always nice to see people you have not seen in years.

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