I ain’t 90

This coming Friday, February 5, 2010, yrs trly will turn 66.
As has been customary for years, my wife’s mother sent me a birthday-card.
“Have a wonderful 90th birthday,” it says. (See card at left.)
“I’m not 90!” I snapped.
This might seem laughable at first, but actually it’s not.
The poor lady can’t see.
Macular degeneration.
She’s almost 94, and lives in a retirement center in De Land, FL; although on her own.
She’d be mortified to know she sent a 90th birthday-card.
“I won’t tell her,” my wife said.
My wife’s mother has to depend on strangers or sales clerks to buy cards.
Or in this case, I think she picked it out herself.

• My wife of 42 years is “Linda.” Like me she’s retired.