Happy Birthday...President Nelson

 In the section of the country where I live, many are celebrating a man who turns one-hundred years old today, the leader of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, President Russell M. Nelson. I've never met him personally, but I join many of my friends, family, neighbors, and others around the world wishing him a happy birthday.

President Nelson was born the same year as my father, who would have turned one-hundred in November, also. Like any leader, some do not like the man, or the organization he steers. He's an easy target, someone who has his beliefs that may not align with others. I'm sure many are doing the opposite of wishing him a happy birthday.

Reaching one-hundred years is a milestone. Heck, I'm closer to one-hundred than I am to zero. I have no idea if I'll make it or not. I can say that the changes I've experienced in the past decade were more than I expected. Another four decades...who knows?

So, on this day, the 9th of September, 2024, I raise a toast of root beer (or original Coca-Cola, if the mood strikes me...) to President Nelson. Happy birthday, President. Here's to even more.

A Fitting Tribute...

 I saw somewhere that newspaper comics writers were going to dedicate one of their posts to honor the legendary Charles M. Schulz, creator of the world-famous Peanuts cartoon on the anniversary of his birth.

Luckily, we subscribe to to a newspaper that prints comics and I was able to read many of those touching tributes.

They were great.

I am of a certain age where newspaper comics were consumed on a daily basis. Depending on how old I was, I would get the paper and turn immediately to the comics page. If I recall correctly, Peanuts was located in the coveted top left corner of the page, the fist comic you'll see if you read (as many of us do...) left to right, top to bottom. I grew up with Charlie Brown and the peanut gallery. The movie, A Charlie Brown Christmas came out the same year as I did. I've never lived in a world without Charles Schulz's art, and I'm thinking many of you haven't either.

When you consider the impact this man had on our society--and especially those who do what he did--it's easy to understand why all those cartoonists would honor him in the manner in which they did. I'll bet many of them became cartoonists because of him, because of the way he made them feel as they grew up.

Last Saturday was the one-hundred year anniversary of his birth. Next February 12th will be the twenty-third anniversary of his passing. Even after almost a quarter century, the man still impacts those cartoonists...

And the rest of us, too.