“Hello?”
“Hi, Mom. May I speak to my father, please?”
Laughter. Then more formally: “Yes. Of course. One moment please.”
“Hello?”
Singing, rather badly: “Happy Biiirthday to yooooou! Haaaappy Biiirthday to yooooou! Haaaappy BIIIIIRTHday dear DAADDDDDY! HAPPY BIIRRRRTHDAY TO YOOOOOOU!”
More laughter: “Thank you so much!”
“Happy birthday, Daddy. How are you doing today?”
“Thank you, Child, I’m good! You know, I’m officially in my seventies now …”
“Right on. You’re a big boy!”
“I am indeed.”
“What are you going to do today?”
“Well, I’m practicing my flute right now, and then in a minute, I’m going for a bike ride — twenty miles today. Then I’m going to come home, shower, and then sit down and make a list of all the things I want to do in the coming years.”
“Yeah? Like what?”
“Well, like a few lectures I want to give. And then there’s a high school downtown that’s pretty interesting, and I want to put together a proposal to submit for some volunteer work I think I could do there, and then … well, there’s tons of things. There’s still so much left to do, you know?”
“I know, Dad. There always is.”