My dad recently celebrated his 75th Birthday. He arranged his own party, at a local Indian restaurant. My husband suggested we get him this t-shirt from a local brewpub, featuring "Bhagwan's Best" pale ale. If you've been following my blog for a while, you may recall that my dad was a pioneer on the controversial Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh commune in Oregon in the early 1980's. Even though that ended badly, and my dad has obviously moved on, he still looks back fondly on his time there, and will always have a soft spot in his heart for Bhagwan. If you want to read more about those crazy times, click here.
Anyhow, about a dozen of us joined Dad for his birthday celebration. Pictured above from left to right is his 5th ex-wife's boyfriend, his French girlfriend looking on, on old friend from the commune (obscured by the shirt), and of course my dad in his orange paisley shirt.
Here's my dad with some of his hippie friends.
Before the party my dad told me he had a big announcement to make. What could it be? A 4th half sibling that my dad never told me about? He's getting married for the 6th time? He's starting his own commune? He's finally reached enlightenment and will be moving to India? Nope, nothing that exciting. He just bought himself a used car, an old diesel Mercedes that he hopped a plane to Vegas to purchase off a Craigslist posting. It could be a Katrina car -- the history is sketchy -- but he's always wanted a car like this, and figured it will be the last car he buys in his life, so here it is.
My dad is very proud of the fact that he is healthy and takes no pharmaceuticals, but one never knows what the future holds. Both of his brothers are gone -- one dropped dead of a heart attack at age 65, and the other died at age 60 of cancer.
His sister is still going strong at 80. You can see just how strong here:
Happy Birthday, Dad. You better start practicing your headstand now, so you can celebrate 80 the way your sister does.