Seventy times around the sun. Seems like a relatively small number in the scheme of stats and the enormity of stuff done.
How about 25,568 days? That’s more like it — i.e., the number of days from July 17, 1955, to today, July 17, 2025. That number sounds like a lot of effort. Plenty of time to get stuff done.
As I sit at the keyboard this milestone-birthday morning, my principal reflections are wrapped up in a heckuva lot of thankfulness and blessings. I’m grateful to be here. Only one member of my birth family got this far, and he was infirm and not a happy camper with his lot in life at this age.
70 Into Perspective
July was an interesting and impactful month in 1955. As the Cold War heated up, the USSR and seven of its European satellite countries formed the Warsaw Pact defense alliance to counter NATO. Winston Churchill retired. Ike had the helm in DC. The first McDonald’s restaurant opened in Des Plaines, Illinois. Disneyland debuted in Anaheim, California, and the Mickey Mouse Club premiered on TV. Rosa Parks refused to go to the back of the bus in Alabama. The Guinness Book of Records debuted. The Brooklyn Dodgers won their elusive first World Series. Gunsmoke debuted on CBS.
And about 4.1 million fellow Baby Boomer mates and I debuted across the USA. Hungry, fussing, and raring to get started.
18 With 52 Years Of Experience
There are lots of ways to articulate this milestone. Seventy is the new ā¦ what was I saying?
I believe the best KISS strategy is to own it. It’s a number. Statistics show that people with the most birthdays live the longest, so I’m pleased about that. (How’s that for deep thinking?) I am another year older, wiser, and happier. My perspective is that old age is at least 15 years older than I am today, and I reserve the right to adjust that viewpoint when I’m in my mid-80s.
What I Know
The memories behind me are more precious than ever. Dreams ahead of me are still at the forefront of my mind. My greatest blessing — my soulmate — is still by my side. Our latest generation of pups thinks I’m the jam. I still have dear friends from the heyday of my youth, and I continue to make new friends with each passing year. Many of my former colleagues still keep in touch because they want to do so. My extended family, blood and otherwise, is beyond amazing; they are the source of the greatest joy in my life and, importantly, they know that is the case.
I did what I loved professionally, was never-not-once outworked, and was generally appreciated. Thankfully, long ago, I thought about our future and planned ahead.
I’m healthy. My family is healthy.
I laugh. A lot.
I make the rules. (Of course, they have to go through a review and approval process.)
My heart hurts with every loss and every goodbye, but it sings with awareness and reflection.
I don’t know why the Man Upstairs has blessed me with such unimaginable good fortune, but I thank Him daily for where I am and what I have today.
Bumps Along The Way
When the Big Guy was busy those first seven days, I suspect He smiled when He put in place His greatest conundrum. Just as we feel we’ve gained enough experience and understanding to navigate life reasonably smoothly, aches and pains, wrinkles, creaky joints, and the occasional word-retrieval issues come along. The higher you get in the birthday numbers, the more He puts a little slow in your roll. It wasn’t clear back in the day, but it certainly is now — nature does not distribute energy equally; you know when you’re getting up there.
Seventy years have made me a well-rounded individual — figuratively and literally. I doubt I’ll make a new acquaintance this year who drops a “Wait ā¦ You’re 70?” on me.
But you know what? I’m perfectly okay with that. I believe I am aging to perfection. Life has slowed down, and it is wonderful. I can still pay it forward. I can still be a great role model, friend, mentor, husband and uncle.
Happy Birthday To Me
So, I’m going to call today the start of the afternoon of my life. I’m going to have some cake. No, I’m going to have a lot of icing on a little cake. I will thank my lucky stars, hold my baba, play with my pups, go to the gym, alternate between my recliner and my office, and enjoy the birthday wishes that come my way. Here’s to another year of unforgettable memories and to making some more.
Reed Sprague
Happy Birthday, Lee!
And thank you for such a creative and unique look at what it’s like to turn seventy. My seventieth birthday is right around the corner (Sept.), and I’m hoping to take it as well as you have. When I think of how fortunate I am, I, like you, appreciate so much all that life has given me — the good and even the challenges!
Melanie
Happy birthday! You don’t look a day over 30. š I hope you had the best day and that all is well.
Rick
70 years 0 months 0 days
or 840 months 0 days
or 3652 weeks 4 days
or 25,568 days
or 613,632 hours
or 36,817,920 minutes
or 2,209,075,200 seconds
for the record…
Annie Koos
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LEE!
LOVE YOU MUCH!
I HAVE A FEW MORE YEARS ON YOU BUT ALIVE AND STILL GOING!
AUNTIE ANNIE
Beth and Dale Bryant
This is written with such gladness and laughter!! Makes us want to be 70 … but not yet. Have a fun-filled day and because it’s your birthday, you can do whatever you want. Along with cake, grab a milkshake, watch your favorite movie (I’m sure they have black-and-white movies available), watch as many baseball games as you want, and have 2nd and 3rd helpings of your favorite dinner. We love you, Debbie, and the pups.
Duane Barrett
Lee — I’m sure it is a bit surreal to wake up to your 70th birthday, but as you allude to in your comments, it’s a really good thing! Certainly better than the alternative.
I do believe that 70 today isn’t what it was 50 years ago. Out of curiosity, I googled the average longevity for US males in 1975, it was 68.7 years. In 2025, it’s 77.5 years. So statistically speaking, being 70 today is almost like being 60 in 1975. Or something like that, maybe?
But, being 70 makes you 6 years older than I am, so to me you’re still OLD! Just kidding big guy.
Hope you and Deb do something really special to celebrate. Have a great day, and keep on rocking on your front porch watching the hummingbirds and enjoying the view!
Virginia Edwards
Congratulations on your Platinum Jubilee! I look forward to joining this club in October. I love your missive that brought many smiles and chuckles and memories of our early times together. May God continue to bless you with many more years of love, health and happiness.
Gini
Jon
Cheers to 25,568 days well lived! Glad to call you a friend for over 6,000 of those days, and hope to see you some day soon! Happy birthday, Lee.
Tracie Hall
Happiest and most Sincere Birthday Blessings, Leeā£ļø
I miss your smile. I miss your laughter. I miss you, and all those who touched my heart throughout my career.
I am uncertain how I āfell out of touchā with someone who touched my life so deeply!
I regret that separation; however, thanks to progressing Parkinsonās, I fall out of touch with a lot of things these days — not limited to:
1~furniture — used as an unsuitable travel mechanism, instead of my walker or electric wheelchair — many falls, resulting in many bruises and broken bones! Will I ever learn?
2-~items I attempt to hold — I do however securely hold the title: Queen of Dropping! Multiple times daily, I find myself unsuccessful in retrieving or even locating whatever has found its way from my tremoring hands to the floor!
3~ retrieving words and memories — some days are better than others, when my mouth is connecting more cognitively with my brain. Other days, well, not so much — my train of thought derails. My words are dropped and memories escape as frequently as the physical items I attempt to grasp!
4- friends and family have drifted out of reach due to inability to regularly communicate and drive a motor vehicle — I even had to surrender my sweet electric bike!
Anyway, all things and people that have fallen from my life are missed but not forgotten (most times).
I find myself with too much time and to few ways to adequately remain in touch, visit, and communicate regularly.
This is NOT how I intended to āage gracefullyā! Instead, Iāve learned to laugh at myself when I manage to roll to the floor instead of falling; take pride in finding or possibly even retrieving whatever has escaped my grasp; finding the word(s) I am seeking (or making one up) to adequately carry on a short conversation; reaching out to friends like you who have escaped my mind, but never my memories, and unlike many physical things, remain locked in my heart forever.
So today, albeit 3:31AM (sleep also eludes me these days), I am having a āgood day,ā managing to reach out to someone who always touched my heart and my life in ways I will try to cling to no matter what this unpredictable Parkinsonās does to my life.
Happiest 70th Birthday, Leeā£ļø I pray you and Deb share many more years cherishing the love you have and the life youāve made together!
With a Grateful Heart and Forgetful Head, my forever friend,
Tracie Hall
Grey Lee
Happy Birthday, Lee! Thanks for sharing these wonderful observations with us. Keep Rockinā!
Muntaha
Happy Birthday to one of the most courageous, contented, and grateful men Iāve had the pleasure of encountering in my life ā LEE. Your positive perspective and grateful attitude towards life are remarkable and truly the key to a contented life. Moreover, you are a man of strong willpower who constantly seeks to grow and learn.
Your contentment with growing older radiates positivity, reflecting peace and happiness, it gives such good vibes about aging.
Happy Birthday, LEE!
May you enjoy 100 more years filled with the same happiness, peace, and grateful attitude, continuously spreading joy to everyone around you.
Gary McCorkle
Happy birthday, my dear friend. I’m honored to say two things: I’ll be joining you in the 7 Decade Club in October and what a joy it is to have known you as an intimate friend for 55 of those years!
As we participated in so many things — proms, baseball, hockey (ice and deck), movies (“The Sting” and 34 James Bond movies — well maybe not 34 but at least (I gotta say it, I must) 007!”), class reunions, wiffleball, Monopoly and Scrabble in the dark nights at the old Capital Centre, collecting and trading baseball cards, marrying women who makes us look good (šš¾), and so much more. Seems like these things were only yesterday until we’re smacked in the mug with our new realities — mandatory grunts when going from a sitting to a standing position, knees that vary sounding between Captain CRUNCH or Rice Krispies’ snap, crackle, AND pop), riding an elevator that’s positioned besides a stairwell saying to ourselves, ” I’ll take the steps next time!”, take longer to dress but a shorter time to brush and comb our hair, coming to accept that our meal portions sizes are down by 50% not because we don’t want to clean our plates but the inside of our stomachs seem so much smaller than from an outside view, remembering all the lyrics from Don MacLean’s “American Pie,” Stevie Wonder’s “Ma Cherie Amour,” and the Doobie Brother’s “Black Water” but not remembering what we said or heard 20 minutes ago! And the greatest concerns of us 70s somethings (again, almost for me) — how did we go from FEARLESSLY sliding in the dirt at home plate on the baseball diamond, tackling and being tackled in Thanksgiving Day neighborhood versus neighborhood tackle football with NO equipment on, diving into 12 feet of water from a 15-foot diving board, checking and being checked down to the ice in hockey, setting bone-crunching Wes Unseld type picks on the basketball court, boxing and “wrasslin'” on the mats outside our high school baseball locker room to being cognizant and wary (spelled a-f-r-a-i-d) of missing a step inside our homes or tripping over a household item that’s been in the same place for 30 years?!
All in all, we are still here with breath in our lungs, mobility, and still in possession of our cognitive abilities so God is not through with us yet! We have things to do, people to love, and hopefully a modicum of wisdom to impart to our friends, family, and loved ones, who also are not through with us yet!
Ann Delehant
Happy day!! Happy year!! Happy decade!!
Emily Marlett
Happy Birthday, friend! Gratitude is a great way of life. Cheers to the afternoon!
Michael R Carlson
Thanks for the reflections and Happy Birthday my friend!
Bob Brown
Well, Lee, my longtime (not old) friend, once again you hit it out of the park with your short and compact swing. You managed to cover all the bases. I agree that having your soulmate by your side is the greatest joy. Enjoy your icing and maybe some cake. Happy 70th trip around the sun. Hereās to many more trips.