Happy birthday, Gary!

When you’re born on the 13th of any month, you (presumably) get used to the occasional Friday the 13th birthday.

Gary’s 13th birthday was on Friday the 13th back in 1968, which just happened to be the date The Beatles were on the cover of Life Magazine. Earlier in the year, their groundbreaking Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album was still number one, featuring the sweet and simple love song “When I’m 64.”

As neatly as this all comes together, Gary admitted to me a few years back that he’s not really a Beatles fan. Despite that shocking revelation, we continue to be happily married and yes, I’ll still need you and I’ll still feed you now that you’re 64 (although, dear heart, you probably aren’t quite following me at this point, sigh).

For today, September 13, is Gary’s birthday.

My husband is not at all into pop culture and celebrity. Keeping that in mind, here is a list of famous people who were also born on September 13:

• Walter Reed (the hospital guy), 1851
• Milton Hershey (the chocolate guy), 1857
• John J. Pershing (military guy), 1860
• Constantin Caratheodory (German mathematician) 1873
• Bill Monroe (bluegrass guy) 1911
• Roald Dahl (author of James and the Giant Peach and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; plus he was married to Patricia Neal, who was in The Homecoming: A Christmas Movie, one of Gary’s favorite movies), 1916
• Stella McCartney (fashion gal, and daughter of music royalty), 1971

World history has been fairly quiet on September 13 over the centuries, with two exceptions:

• In 1814, September 13 brought a turning point in the War of 1812, as the Brits failed to capture Baltimore. It was during this battle that Francis Scott Key wrote what would become our national anthem.
• In 1956, the IBM 305 RAMAC – the first commercial computer to use disk storage – was introduced on September 13. Anyone who’s known Gary for at least eight minutes knows what a fan of computers he is. It is a special day, indeed!

Another great discovery: Based on the date of his birth 64 years ago, Gary’s mythical animal is … a sheep.

And to think all those years he milked cows. Sheer madness, I say!

There’s also some New Age (do we still call it that?) mumbo jumbo that says Gary’s birthdate numbers mean he believes in justice, and is nurturing and responsible. Maybe there’s something to this after all …

Happy birthday, Gar – and many, many happy returns. And if you’ll permit one final lyric from that song by that group, you’re … mine for evermore!

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