77th BIRTHDAY PARTY

Ron Hadfield
Jul 9, 2017
5 min read

"I don't know how to act my age because I've never been this old before."

I turned 77 years old on Friday, July 7th. We had a fun birthday party to celebrate on Saturday, July 8th at Matt Denny's Ale House in Arcadia. We've been having a heat wave in the Los Angeles area and it was definitely hot - and humid - for the party. We held the party on an outside patio (this decision was made before the heat wave arrived), but Matt had the fans running and it was relatively comfortable. Thirty-six people were at the party and I think everyone had a good time visiting. Those I talked with agreed that the food served by Matt Denny's was delicious, although they ran out of salmon. I had a great time at the party and hope everyone else did as well. I want to thank everyone for coming! A number of the group came to our house after Matt Denny's for a nightcap and/or a cup of coffee (I wanted to showoff our new backyard and Bonnie's party lights). By that time it had cooled down a little, but most stayed inside and enjoyed the air conditioning.

While at Matt Denny's I presented a couple of my favorite quotes to the group, made some brief introductions (there was an interesting collection of friends and family), and then tried to justify my fixation with the number 7 and my decision to embark on all these crazy activities in the coming year. Below is a summary of what I intended to say:

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Andy Rooney said,

"It's paradoxical that the idea of living a long life appeals to everyone,

but the idea of getting old doesn't appeal to anyone."

Another favorite of mine, but I don't know who gets the credit,

"Do not regret growing older. It's a privilege denied to many."

The way I see it, when you pass 75 years old you've entered your 4th quarter. I want to enjoy living to the fullest as much of that quarter as I can.

I know many people think I'm crazy with all this nonsense about the number Seven, and throwing this party because I'm 77. This is just something I've always liked to do. And planning all the activities for my YEAR 77 is not trying to impress anyone. I just want to do a lot of things that I enjoy and I'll try to talk some friends and family members into doing them with me.

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Regarding the Number Seven - My fixation with the number Seven was built into my conscience by my mother from the time I was just a boy. Later in my life, when I turned 37 in 1977, she sent me a poem that shows how she thought about it. I won't write the whole poem, but the first few lines are below: (She uses the name Clair in the poem, which is my middle name)

Some say there's nothing special about a number, but 7 is special to me.

You see, on the 7th day of the 7th month, we had a baby wee.

In modern times we're told Sunday is the 1st of the week,

but the Bible says Sunday is the 7th day, and a day of rest.

At 7 pm on Sunday (the 7th day) Clair arrived, and he really passed the test.

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Regarding the Lapel Pins - Just for fun I had little number 7 lapel pins made and distributed with a note to those at the party.

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Regarding all the YEAR 77 Activities - I don't think of the activities I'm planning as great achievements, just fun things to do, and they are the most fun when done with friends and/or family members. Many are still on my Bucket List, and many are activities I enjoyed earlier in life and haven't done for a long time. I thought it would be fun to do some of them again. I enjoy doing various different things and I think of them as small adventures. I emphasize small because I'm really not interested in big, or dangerous, adventures. My Bucket List has never included things like running a 100-mile ultra-marathon, or jumping out of an airplane, or bungee jumping, or anything like those activities.

I'll end with a recommendation that we all determine to follow the Golden Rule in our daily lives. Can you imagine how wonderful the world would be if everyone treated others like they would like to be treated themselves? We live in great times, but it could be much better.

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I received a bunch of great birthday cards, and despite a "no gift rule" a few gifts appeared.

Click Photo to Enlarge - Use Arrows for Next Photo

Attendees at the party should be shown somewhere in the photos below. They were Jarrett & Marj Anderson, Espi Bagwell, Jen Bennett, Al & Dottie Berntson, Curran Daly & Terra Hyke, Griffin Daly, Mike Dolan, Bonnie Hadfield (and me), Dale & Pam Hadfield, Michael Hadfield, Tracy Clair Hadfield, Rob & Bekah Horn, Steve Hunt & Karen Davies, Don & Bonnie Kinch, Alice Motes, Stephanie Nealey, Mark Petulla, Cary & Carolyn Pitts, Warren & Diane Preston, Don & Debbie Russ, Jenny Stueve, Art & Connie White, Ginny White, and Kimberly White:

Click Photo to Enlarge - Use Arrows for Next Photo

A Little History: I have always enjoyed getting a group of people together for the purpose of fun and a good visit. A birthday party is a good way to accomplish that purpose. It's a tradition in our family to have a family lunch or dinner every year on (or near) each persons birthday. And we have gathered a large group of family and friends together for a celebration on at least five occasions prior to this one that I can think of, many of them at our Alta Vista Family Home where we lived for 27 years (shown below).

In September 1977 we had a "house warming" party at our Alta Vista family home, in July 1986 we hosted a going away party for Mel & Linda when they moved to Cedar City, in July 1990 we held a party for my 50th birthday celebration at the Alta Vista home, in May 1997 we had a combination of Heather's birthday party and a "going away" party when we sold the Alta Vista home (we had lived there 27 years - the party was called "Adios Alta Vista"), and in July 2010 we held a party at Rudy's Mexican Restaurant celebrating my 70th birthday. Each time I think it has been a lot of fun for everyone. Below are a few photos from these parties. The drawers with writing on the bottoms are drawers from built-in cabinets at our Alta Vista home. Our family members signed one noting the twenty-seven years we had lived there, and everyone at the party signed the other one. The drawers were then re-positioned in the cabinets awaiting the new owners of the home to discover them.