September Featured Relative Of The Month, No. 1

Riddle: Here on earth it is true, yesterday is always before today, but there is a place where yesterday always follows today. Where?

Today is so special it deserves a 2nd Riddle: What happened in the middle of the 20th Century that won't happen again for 4,000 years?

We have 3 birthdays to feature in September, so let's climb aboard...

The Wayback Machine
Our first trip this month is back to 1961:

Our darling first daughter L was born in Portland, ME on Labor Day (actually, all babies are born on labor day). I have are so many wonderful memories of her childhood, it's hard to choose just a few.

L was a very easy baby and child to raise. She made me think I was very successful at parenting, when really it was her own sweet good nature. I had so much fun reading stories, playing games and singing songs with her, then later seeing her do the same with her children.

She was always helpful and hardworking. In first grade, since she finished her work early, the teacher had her tutor a handicapped child (back before special needs children had help). Since teaching reinforced her own knowledge, and she loved to play 'school', we let this continue. Her patience and compassion as a little girl show in the competent, caring adult that she became.

She was the most frugal college student ever. She would buy overripe bananas for a few cents and make delicious banana bread. Her motto was "When life hands you mooshy bananas, make banana bread".

As a very intelligent child and adult, she graduated from college with a Major, a Minor, and just one class short of a second Minor Degree. She has held a top executive job for many years.

Timeline 1961 to 1990
1961-63: John F Kennedy president of US to age 2
1961: 1st man in space, Yuri Gagarin; 1st US manned spaceflight, Alan Shepard; Bay of Pigs Cuban disaster; Berlin Wall built; 1st US soldier killed in Vietnam; airplane hijacking (skyjacking); 1st inflight movie shown; Chevy II had 1st modern 4-cylinder engine; Sep 5: US began underground nuclear testing; 90% of Americans had TV (we didn't)
1962: Cuban missile crisis, age 1
1963-68: Lyndon B Johnson president of US from age 2 to 7
1963: Compact cassette tape recordings; 1st artificial heart; Supreme Court ruled laws requiring recitation of Lord's Prayer or Bible verses in public schools unconstitutional; Pres. Kennedy assassinated, age 2
1964: US civil rights bill; Beatlemania hits US, age 3
1964-75: Vietnam War, age 3 to 14
1965: 1st public burning of a draft card to protest Vietnam War; 1st spacewalks (US, USSR); Kevlar; Nov 9 Great northeast blackout, age 4
1966: Medicare begins; 8-track tape players, age 5
1967: The term Black Hole coined; Final episode of Gilligan's Island; 1st human heart transplant, age 6
1968: Martin Luther King killed; Robert Kennedy killed, age 6
1969-74: Richard Nixon president of US, age 8 to 13
1969: Moon landing, 1st man Neil Armstrong; Woodstock; Internet invented at U.S. Dept of Defense, age 7
1970: Kent State shooting; Childproof safety caps; Beatles release last album; bar codes, Microprocessor, and Floppy disks invented, age 8
1971: Cigarette ads banned on TV; Electric Company debuts on PBS; Voting age lowered to 18; Disney's Magic Kingdom opens in FL; Intel ships 1st Processor: the 4004, age 10
1972: Israeli athlete hostages killed at Summer Olympics; 1st successful video game (Pong) released; Nike running shoes; Last Apollo moon mission; Watergate; E-mail invented, age 11
1973: Oil from $1.50 to $11.56 a barrel; VP Spiro Agnew resigns; World Trade Center opens; Vietnam War ends; The Internet, age 12
1974: Speed limit down to 55 mph on highways; Pres. Nixon resigns; 1st small, cheap pocket calculators sold, age 13
1974-76: Gerald Ford president of US from age 13 to 15
1975: 1st home computer (a kit) the Altair; Microsoft founded; Metric Conversion Act passed and ignored; Disposable razors, age 14
1976: American Bicentennial; Apple Computer launched; Betamax and VHS VCRs 1st sold; TV begins satellite broadcast, age 15
1977: Neutron bomb; Elvis dies at 42; 'Roots' TV miniseries, age 16
1977-80: James Earl Carter Jr president of US from age 16 to 19
1978: Laserdisc videos; 1st Ultrasound; 1st test-tube baby, age 17
1979: Sony Walkman introduced; Hostages taken in Iran; Three Mile Island nuclear event; L graduates from high school, age 18
1980: Mount St. Helens erupts; John Lennon assassinated; Japan passes US as largest automaker; Post-It Notes introduced, age 19
1981-88: Ronald Reagan president of US from age 20 to 27
1981: 1st space shuttle (Columbia); IBM PCs 1st sold; Pac-Man, age 20
1982: 1st genetically engineered product - insulin; 1st artificial heart transplant; DeLorean Motors bankrupt; Michael Jackson's "Thriller" released, becomes largest selling album ever, age 21
1983: Cabbage Patch Kids craze; Camcorders; Compact discs, age 22
1984: HIV virus is cause of AIDS; Apple releases Macintosh; L graduates from college, age 22
1985: Extra second added to calendar year; Leaded gas banned in US; Nintendo home entertainment system; Amiga Computer, age 24
1986: Chernobyl nuclear plant meltdown; Mir space station deployed; return of Halley's Comet, age 25
1987: 2000th satellite launched: USSR's Cosmos; World population reaches 5 billion, age 26
1988: Turin shroud carbon dated to 1330 AD - a hoax; Bobby McFerrin sings "Don't Worry, Be Happy"; CDs outsell vinyl for 1st time, age 27
1989: Fall of Berlin Wall; Breakup of Soviet Union; Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles a big hit; age 28
1989-92: George Bush president of US from age 28 to 31

Back in 1961:
Prices: New house, $20,000; Car, $2,000; Milk, $1.05; eggs, $.30 a dozen; Hamburg, $.40 a pound; Gasoline, $.25; Bread, $.21; Postage stamp, $.04; Average income, $6,400; minimum wage, $1.15; Movie ticket, $1; Harvard yearly tuition, $1,250

Movies: 101 Dalmatians, The Parent Trap; Absent Minded Professor, Swiss Family Robinson; El Cid; The Alamo; Breakfast at Tiffany's; The Guns of Navarone; Fanny; The Hustler; Tammy Tell Me True
Academy Awards: Best Picture - West Side Story; Best Actor Maximillian Schell - Judgment at Nuremberg; Best Actress - Sophia Loren - Two Women; Best Supporting: George Chakiris, Rita Moreno.

Top Songs: The Twist; Pony Time, Let's Twist Again, Chubby Checker; Blue Moon, The Marcels; Runaway, Del Shannon; Please Mr. Postman, The Marvelettes; Moon River, Henry Mancini; Are You Lonesome Tonight, Can't Help Falling in Love, Elvis Presley; Calendar Girl, Neil Sedaka; Shop Around, the Miracles; Exodus, Ferrante and Teicher; Where the Boys are, Connie Francis; Travelin' Man, Ricky Nelson; Running Scared, Roy Orbison; The Lion Sleeps Tonight, the Tokens; Tossin' and Turnin', Bobby Lewis; Big Bad John, Jimmy Dean;

TV: Perry Mason; The Defenders: Ben Casey; Dr. Kildare; Mr. Ed; Hazel; Leave It to Beaver; Candid Camera; Wagon Train; Bonanza; Gunsmoke: Ed Sullivan; Red Skelton; Andy Griffith; Danny Thomas; Dick Van Dyke; Password; Twilight Zone; Flintstones; Car 54 Where are You?; The Alvin Show (The Chipmunks)

Books: Calories Don't Count, Herman Taller; Catch-22, Joseph Heller; Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert Heinlein; Pulitzer Prize-winner: To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee.

Toys: Barbie; Troll Dolls; Yahtzee; Hula Hoop; Play-doh; Etch-A-Sketch; Frisbee; Chatty Cathy; Slip 'N Slide

Riddle answer: In the dictionary
Second Riddle answer: A year like 1961, which reads the same upside down. The next one is the year 6009