9. Birthday Celebration

Palmer's Prattle....Edition #9.....May 4, 2010

Big day on Tuesday, May 4th....... my life odometer turned over to 56........looking squarely at 60 now....can't even see 50 in my rear view mirror anymore.........big fan of "even years"........something to keep in mind for your future plans - there is a belief that a person can only legitimately retire when his age is an even number.....don't ask me why....it just a fact of life.

Highlights of the celebration....

-6:00 am - Jean Reilly wins the award for being the first person to wish me a happy birthday...sings happy birthday to me over the phone...very nice surprise.....great voice!

-6:15 am - Birthday breakfast at the Copper Kettle in downtown Osseo....love the place...reminds me of the small town places I frequented in my youth......brought the newspaper just in case nobody showed up to my party (the dreaded fear of every party host)

Stork, Jay and Oly were kind enough to join me at this very early hour of the day.....Jay followed the rules and did not bring a gift or card....Stork broke he rules and brought a nice card from his family....Oly went over and above the rules.... presented me with a collector's item....(1) unused ticket to Game 1 of the 2008 World Series at the Metrodome........why unused?......the game never happened..... twilight zone?.....in a phrase used so often in the Zumbrota News "a fine time was had by all".

-Snuck out of the office to keep another tradition alive.....had a hot dog and butterscotch malt at the Dairy Queen.......an annual birthday tradition that started as a young boy in Zumbrota......a big treat in the 1960's...evolved into a "must have" on my birthday every year.........guessing 48 years in a row......oh oh.... can you say streak?.....is this some form of mental illness?.....sorry....won't go down that road again....don't want to break up any marriages.

-Called my Birthday buddy, Bob Bonsen, and wished him a happy birthday.....very good people were obviously born on this day.

-Met three of my basketball buddies (Ron, Bob & Dave) at Smalley's bar in downtown Minneapolis at 3:30.....let the party begin....beautiful day sitting at an outside table in the bar's outdoor alley....

-I've played on a basketball team with these guys for the last 25 years.........what?...... not another streak..... (a disturbing pattern, I know).....

-Human interest story # 1 on basketball buddy, Bob.....he is the only guy I know who witnessed two guys die on the court while playing pickup basketball with him....am I pressing my luck by continuing to play with him?...

-Human interest story # 2 on Bob.....he is from Hibbing and he is known for the sage advice he gave to a young Kevin McHale back in the 1970's.....after a pick-up basketball game at Hibbing High School Kevin (freshman in HS) told Bob (senior in HS) that he (Kevin) was going to play at UCLA some day. Bob's response..."You need to be more realistic, you should be thinking about trying to play at Hibbing Junior College".....oh well, how was Bob to know that Kevin would be voted one of the 50 greatest players in the NBA......Bob obvioulsy never went into coaching............oh well, at least nobody died.

-Small world story about my basketball buddy, Ron.....a girl named Margo was a classmate of mine at Concordia..... she was a member of the Cobber dance line who performed at all of the home basketball games.... I would often times run her over under the basket as I came flying in on a fast break lay up (hold that thought)......

-Now fast forward 15 years and I'm now playing on basketball team in a St. Louis Park league with Ron who was a friend of some of the other guys on my team (he was not a Cobber).......after playing with Ron for over 10 years we decide to have a team party and Ron brings his wife.... guess who he is married to?.....yes, it's Margo....quite a surprise.....hadn't seen her since her dance line days at Concordia.......can you say, "small world"?.....

-Random act of kindness / "Pay it forward" moment.....surveyed the standing room only crowd at Smalley's looking for the most deserving people to give our table to when we leave.......spotted the winners and led them to our table......very appreciative of my offer....explained that they now had to do something nice for someone else as in "pay it forward" ...they understood the concept.....oh by the way, the winners just happened to be 2 very attractive young women...amazing how that happens sometimes.......they both proceeded to give me big hugs.....their "pay it forward" responsibilities were already completed as far as I was concerned.

-Took my group on the official "Palmer Tour" of the ballpark.....it proved to be a very interesting tour for me.....as we walked around the ballpark and I ran into several people from my past....... my superintendent at Twin Valley HS and his wife, old friends Wheels, Af, Joe, Steve Hackett, Brad Glueth and his wife, two Black Box sales reps from Des Moines, two basketball buddies from Osseo, a former Norstan co-worker, a former customer contact, 2 guys I played basketball against over the years in various leagues.....I was exhausted before the game even started.....my small talk meter exploded......

-Experienced real outdoor baseball....light rain for 2 innings....never left our seats....fortunately it was a "dry rain".....magical moment - full rainbow over the ballpark and the downtown skyline....quite an impressive sight... Dorothy (Judy Garland) should have been there.....rain stopped and it turned into a beautiful spring evening...

-Exciting ending....JJ Hardy was the defensive and offensive hero in the 9th inning....Twins win in the bottom of the ninth on a "walk off' wild pitch (is there such a term?)

-Party continues back at Smalley's after the game......informed the waitress it was my birthday .....asked her if there were any birthday specials.....she said the only thing she could offer me was a hug and a kiss.....oh my!...who was I to stand in the way of company policy?.....calm down, the kiss was on the cheek.

-New feature at Smalley's after the game.....a magician works the room....goes from table to table doing card tricks.....he comes to our table and suddenly I recognize him....it's the "Amazing Hondo".....by the way, he is not blind (inside joke to a small readership)......we used him at Norstan for special events....he impressed us with his magic.....top trick sequence was when he had me pick a card out of the deck... the card I selected was the 6 of diamonds and on it was a handwritten note that said, "Paul's Card....Happy Birthday".....he proceeds to have this card showing up all over the place in several amazing tricks......very impressive.....the only thing I can figure out is the waitress told him my name and that it was my birthday....no idea how he did the tricks, however.

-The big day finally came to an end around midnight.....a great day.....the best birthday ever....(it has to be because it's the most recent one).