68 years ago
Aug. 10th, 2021 09:33I'm not a huge fan of birthday parties. Or presents. My birthday or anyone's has always created stress for me. But as I get older it does bring some space for thought.
I saw this on our TV last night during the news and immediately thought of my mom:

When I was young my mom used to say in an off hand way how late I was being born and how hot it was. I always took that as one of those 'we had to walk to school up hill both ways in the snow' kind of statements. That was before the Internet and before all information that ever has existed was available. One day I looked it up.
I was born in Kansas City this week 68 years ago. It was, in fact, a record heat wave and I was several weeks late in arriving. This was before air conditioning. Mom was 30 years old. It was back when taking a picture of a pregnant woman was considered poor form but since I came in over nine pounds I'm guessing that 68 years ago right now she was huge and hot and as uncomfortable as she could be.
Many years later she took me out to a field very late at night to look for Sputnik passing overhead, the only man made thing in the sky. I was 4.
A few years after that she got me up at 4 in the morning to see Ikeya-Seki. I was 12.
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