NINETY and on the way to the golf course

Today is William Anthony McAlevey's 90Th Birthday and I will be picking him up and taking him to the golf course where he will drive the cart and do some pitching and putting.

He could actually drive his own car to the course but it saves me a little gas when we take his car from his house and leave my "clunker" behind.

I now am the official owner of a "clunker" and in no way am I referring to my father when I use that term.

He is actually cleared to play a complete round of golf on September the first....which will be about two months since his pacemaker was installed.

He's getting anxious about playing and I'm sure his short game will be a bit rusty when he resumes but I know one thing for sure....he will feel a whole lot better on that day then Tiger felt last Sunday afternoon.

It probably took Tiger about 30 minutes to get over the fact that he had an off day in putting.

That 30 minute period is probably the length of time for Tiger to wallow

He hasn't had a lot of wallowing in his golf life

I honestly believe my dad has not experienced a lot of wallowing in his golf life.

Don't get me wrong...he has had a ton of lousy days and rotten moments on the golf course but he is the kind of person who doesn't let it...things...get to him and that might explain why he's still on his way to the golf course.

Maybe it was his Marine training or maybe the two people on the right in the first picture above taught him the trick.

That picture was taken on Selma Avenue in Hollywood Ca. in 1946. I am in my father's arms and that is Uncle Jerry standing in the front. My grandparents are on the right....James and Clara from Maplewood, Missouri.

I showed this house to Lily the other day and the people that live there now were having a yard sale, and it looks like they have a yard sale every weekend.

The address is 6071 Selma and maybe if you are in town you should stop by and buy something. Some of the stuff looks like it might have been there from our time in that house.

I told the people about my father's rabbit farm in the back and they sort of laughed. I didn't bother to look in the back yard but I suspect 200 rabbits probably filled it to the max.

I'll ask my dad today why he thought rabbits were the path to personal riches and report back later.

Looking at the pictures above I can see why my mom had two kids with my dad....he had that Sinatra thing going and she was a huge Sinatra fan.

He's still got a bit of that Sinatra thing going on but it's mainly in the attitude.

He had some tense physical moments at the beginning of the summer but he is doing extremely well and very excited about playing golf on the first.

We have a special surprise for him today at the course and I'm really hoping it doesn't trigger his new pacemaker into action.

I'll take pictures and report back later.

I am extremely happy and satisfied that I can actually still be in a position to report back later on anything to do with my father.

The only thing that would make today perfect would be if Sean was playing golf with us and celebrating my dad's 90Th birthday in a physical state of grace.

I am well aware of Sean's non-physical state of grace and I love that I know about it and respect it and honor it...but sometimes it just doesn't fill the hole.

And that's not a golf metaphor....and I'm sorry if I brought you down but welcome to my world.

The thing I realize most about my dad is that he would do anything to have Sean with us today and knowing that is all I need to help him celebrate another year.

I love you Dad and let's party dude!

Michael Timothy McAlevey