Today, my dad turns 85. Friday evening, Rebekah and I enjoyed a break in our “long goodbye” routine and drove down to my niece Hannah’s house in Ellenton for the celebration.

I asked dad about the earliest birthday he could clearly remember. He said he was eight years old, and his family were out-of-town visiting relatives. He also remembers his “big” present that year.

“I had a large parcel,” he said, “but once I started unwrapping it the wrapping was never-ending. It unwound and unwound until all that was left was a small box. Then, after I unwrapped the box, there was more and more wrapping paper.”

“Did you enjoy the trick?” I asked.

“I remember thinking it was the stupidest thing,” dad said, “and I still do. But once I made it all the way in I found a two-shilling piece; I was very happy about that!”

A LONG TIME AGO: Eight years old for dad, by the way, would have been 1936. A King George V proof florin (that’s the two-shilling coin) for that year is valued today at around $1,000. However, if he’d just kept the two-shillings in his pocket for the past 77 years he could probably hawk the coin for around ten dollars, worn. Interestingly, inflation is not that much different; his florin had the same purchasing power in 1936 as six British pounds today, or $9.23 in the USA.

(1936 was also an interesting year in that there were an unprecedented three monarchs in England, all kings. George 5 died in January, Edward 8 ascended the throne but abdicated December 11, and then George 6 became king that same day.)

1928: The year my dad was born, 1928, saw historical facts and cultural milestones that included the following:

• 

  The Julian calendar was abandoned in favor of the Gregorian calendar

• Herbert Hoover defeated Al Smith and was elected US President
• Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean
• Ford’s Model A was king of the road
• Benito Mussolini consolidated his dictatorship in Italy
• Joseph Stalin tightened his grip on the Soviet Union
• Three hurricanes killed over 10,000 people in Florida
• General Chiang Kai-shek became president of China
• Sliced bread was sold for the first time
• Alexander Flemming discovered penicillin
• Micky Mouse came to life through the animation of Walt Disney
• The first Yo-Yo factory went on-line (in California)
• A.A. Milne published “The House at Pooh Corner.”
• Shirley Temple was born

MY GRANDDAUGHTER: Writing about my dad today, I can’t help but think about the other end of the family age spectrum, Dad may be 85, but at all of one-month, Rebekah Mae Campbell won’t celebrate that same milestone until the year 2098. Where, I wonder, will this complicated Planet Earth be when that milestone is celebrated around the family table?

It is my prayer that our newborn granddaughter contributes as much goodness, kindness, and faithful love as her great-grandfather David. If she does – and I have nothing but faith and confidence that she will – 2098 will, once again, see a grateful family gathered, and a grateful world touched by the blessing of a faithful life.

In love, and in the hope of promise that is true – DEREK