Happy Birthday, Compton!

Today is my dad's 92nd birthday. If you happen to see him today, please give him a high five and a hug, OK? Thanks.

Since his birthday usually occurs during the same week as Thanksgiving, I tend to become reflective, especially since I am rarely able to spend the day with him doing typical birthday stuff, like wearing pointed hats, eating cake and ice cream, or smashing piñatas, etc. As regular readers know, I rarely engage my brain at all, and on those infrequent occasions when I DO think, it tends to be about topics such as why the Federation had such an incompetent Reverse Engineering Division -- I mean even after Kirk stole a Romulan cloaking device by making out with a pointy-eared chick, and then later actually owned an entirely functional Bird of Prey, it seems like Picard's Enterprise should've had cloaking technology built in. Oh, I suppose it's conceivable that it turned out to be hideously expensive, requiring trilithium crystals or something. Or perhaps it involved some ultra-complex quantum physics principle that required a Daystrom-level intelligence to understand, but Daystrom was unavailable because M5 had already made him go cuckoo bananas.

Hmm. I wonder if Daystrom had any kids? And if so, did they follow him into his chosen profession? My dad was an engineer...but none of his children went into that field--although both my brother and I ended up working at Boeing (as my dad had) for a brief period. Anyway, I digress. I was talking about how I hope my father has a wonderful and happy birthday today.

It's a little weird to think that he has thus far outlived my mother by 44 years...longer than she was alive altogether. And he's still a pretty robust fellow who gets around reasonably well, though he struggles with short-term memory and substantial hearing loss. I'm not sure what he'll do for fun on his birthday, but it probably won't involve bungee jumping or martial arts.

As for being reflective about the proximity of my dad's birthday to Thanksgiving, I'd like to take a moment and list just a few of the things my dad has done that I'm thankful for.

• First and foremost, he raised and supported his kids, put us through school, and was a key player in the development of our values and philosophies.


• He handled being a single parent without complaint, and did an amazing job juggling work, home life, and a zillion parental responsibilities...like attending band concerts, swim meets, and Boy Scout campouts.


• By letting me take some of our home movies with his 8mm film camera, he sparked my lifelong love of video and visual communication.


• As an engineer, he subscribed to Popular Science magazine, had a drafting table in our basement, where he proudly displayed his old IBM "Think" sign. These things probably contributed greatly to my fascination with technology and innovation.


• From his own pursuit of the American Dream, as well as his patriotism during WWII and afterwards, he helped inspire my own enduring love and admiration for this country and for the principles upon which it was founded.


• My dad has seen amazing changes in the world. Beginning about a decade ago, he began working with me to create his own autobiography. By documenting his life's story and supplementing it with tons of information about family history and genealogy, he has established a wonderful legacy to help future Heggy generations understand the lives of their ancestors.


• He has never stopped loving his kids, or making it clear that he appreciates our continued presence in his life.

And of course, there are the genetic components I appreciate as well--the general tendency toward excellent health, the sense of humor, the matinee-idol good looks, and of course, the massive intellect. And though it obviously skipped a generation in my case, let's not forget the musical talent my son possesses. (OK, perhaps it isn't clear which components may have been contributed from my mom's side of the family, but the bottom line is that I'm pleased with the DNA I received from both of them. Well, except for the crappy vision, perhaps...they might've done a little better in that department.)

So in summary: Thanks, Dad! May you continue to live long and prosper. Have a great birthday!