Happy Birthday, Bob

Happy belated 80th birthday, Bob.

This morning, we got a random text from Elle. She asked, “Did you guys protest the Vietnam War?” And I answered yes, we did, although fairly passively. I drove Tom and myself in my little Volkswagen Bug up to Eugene on a couple of Saturdays when there were protests happening on the U of O campus. While we were of a most definitely anti-war stance, as 17 and 16 year olders, we were just curious as to what was going on. No tear gas, small police presence, but we were there to watch it.

But our talk with granddaughter Elle led to music. Because of the nature of the protest subject, I shared with her where we were on May 4, 1970, when four students died at Kent State. I sent her Neil Young’s “Ohio.” That led to other songs of the times from Dylan, Creedence, and others.

What an era we grew up in. It had the best music ever written. We were right there listening to it then, and on good days, like today, talking about what it meant to us now, and then.