Numbers Game

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They never saw it coming.

That was the tagline from a movie called Derailed, but it pretty much describes my feeling about aging.

By the grace of God, I turned 69 today, and I was reviewing my birthday blog post from 2006, which I described as “a quiet affair—just me, my dad, and my sister.”

I titled the post What Hath God Wrought?, which was the first official message transmitted over a commercial telegraph line in the U.S. on May 24, 1844.

Patti LaBelle, Bob Dylan, the Brooklyn Bridge, and my grandmother also celebrate their birthdays today.

“Mary, my dad's aide, made a delicious pasta dinner, my sister got the cake and sang ‘Happy Birthday’—my dad didn't seem able to join in—and then we watched Derailed on DVD,” I wrote on that day.

Back then I was shocked that I would be turning 50 the next year. Now, I’m just kind of numb to the numbers.

“I couldn't help but think of my mom when I looked at the cake's candles flickering in front of me, I could almost hear her singing to me,” I said in the post. “And my dad used to wave his arms like a conductor as everyone joined in."

"God, such a long time ago and yet it's still so fresh in my mind.”

Nothing’s changed since then…except my age, of course.

Derailed has been completely derailed from my memory. I know it was a long time ago and I watch a lot of movies, but I usually recognize the titles of the films I’ve seen.

I don’t know if that’s a commentary on the quality of the movie or my failing memory.

The IMDb plot synopsis sounds intriguing:

“When two married business executives having an affair are blackmailed by a violent criminal, the two must turn the tables on him to save their families.”

Pain at the Pump

The film certainly has a good cast: Clive Owen, Jennifer Aniston, and Vincent Cassel.

But I’m still drawing a blank.

There are at least six movies entitled Derailed, including a 2002 effort starring Jean-Claude Van Damme, who portrays a NATO operative “assigned to escort a thief in possession of a deadly virus, from Slovakia to Germany by train.”

The Clive Owen version is available on Amazon Prime, so maybe I’ll take a look and see if it jars any memory cells.

Meanwhile, back in 2006, George Bush was president, and I remember thinking America could not possibly do any worse. But then America elected Donald Trump twice.

I never saw that coming.

A tank of gas went for $2.90 back in the day, as opposed to today’s tally of $4.55.

America was waging a pointless and highly destructive war in Iraq, and now we’re waging a pointless and highly destructive war in Iran.

It can be a little depressing when you think about it, but I’m taking a break for my birthday.

“Let me pause here to thank God for letting me get this far,” my younger self wrote. “A lot of people haven't, so I consider myself very lucky.”

Since that time, my father, Mary, and my brother Peter are among those people who are no longer with us.

For today, my birthday celebration was a quiet but lovely affair. I had dinner with my sister, my auntie, and my beautiful niece at Red Bowl, my favorite Chinese restaurant, and I still consider myself very lucky.

I felt so good being with my family today. It’s been very damp and rainy in New York, and it feels more like November than May.

But, as I said 20 years ago, “no whining, no complaining, no tearing myself down. This was a great day.”

Indeed, it was.

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