On my Parents . . . Martha McCutchen and David Wilson

My mom will be 84 on April 2 and my Dad is 86 until Dec. 25 when, we'll just say, he doesn't only celebrate Christmas. As a matter of fact, for a number of recent years, there has been a contest; whoever was the first person to wish him Happy Birthday on Dec. 25 would get a silver dollar. This compelled the more competitive members of the family, near and far, to stand by their phones on Dec. 24th at 11:59 p.m., only to be outdone by someone who had gotten him on the line at, say, 11:45 to chat until the witching hour. But that also leads me to mention why people would think it was OK to call 2 (dare I say elderly people - not in front of them) 80+ year olds after midnight? That's because my parents are still cool (or "coolio" as my son might say). They get up at 10, lunch at 2, nap at 5 or 6, dine at 8 and retire at midnight or later. They always know who was on Leno or Letterman. And frequently Larry King who's on CNN, that commie-liberal station that I love. And though they live in Ohio, that recently George Bush red state, they voted for a nameless candidate in the Democratic primary. Go Mom and Dad! I'm so proud of them that they still got out in the middle of a nasty, icy day to even vote in a primary. Other reasons I'm proud of my parents: (in no particular order)

• Micro: They have continued to carve a real pumpkin for Halloween years after I bought an electric one. Macro: They seem to never take the easy route.
• Micro: Until recently, they put Christmas lights up in the front of the house, but, even more interesting, on a spruce tree in the back of the house that they could see from the kitchen. As the tree outgrew my father's reach, he made a pole with a hook on the end of it to reach the top. As the tree outgrew the pole, well, we just no longer started at the top. Macro: They are problem solvers.
• Micro: As I am the only one of the 4 children who is a Mother, I think I have an argueably unique perspective on parenthood. I have spent the last ten or fifteen years particularly calling on the crying shoulders of my parents in a way I never thought I would have to. I felt I could tell them all my woes like they were my best friends. And they listened and helped beyond the call. Macro: They were excellent parents, and either I'm the special, chosen child, or, more likely, they profoundly love all their children.
• Micro: David and Grant think their grandparents hung the moon (google it). As the saying goes something like: grandparents and grandchildren are forever linked by a common enemy. Macro: Good grandparents are good people.
• Micro: They have stayed in touch with high school and college friends. They have driven miles and miles to visit ailing friends and bring cheer when they could. They continue in their bridge clubs. Micro: They are good, friendly people.
• Micro: My mom is a newspaper reader; my dad a mostly non-fiction book reader. My dad has a computer and an email account and wanted to "download the music" when that was the free fad even though he never quite mastered it. He recently read my grandfather's, Samuel Proctor McCutchen, III, American history book, History of a Free People. Macro: They are smart! My mom spent 2 years at Syracuse and my dad got a degree in chemical engrg. at Ohio State after World War II when he taught guys to fly in the Army Air Corps.