101 Year Old And Still Standing~~Sort of!!

My day has arrived and I could not be happier. Woke up this morning at 6am and had my required two cups of coffee before heading out for a one and a half mile walk at the local high school track. The weather was cooperative, sunny and about 80 degrees, and my day was off and running.

So I am feeling pretty good and for at least one day all my cares and worries will be shoved under my couch, where one of my dog likes to hide things she has stolen, and I will let it all go until tomorrow when life will resume its bumpy and interesting course.

Back in 1911 when I was born(actually I was born on 1948 but for the sake of being 101 years old 1911 is my year) life was so much simpler. President William Howard Taft was busy trying to improve the Post Office, a job still ongoing today lol, and making landmark decisions, through the 16th Amendment, to change the way we are taxed forcing an income tax upon us that was out of state control and put in the mostly incompetent hands of the of the United States Congress, Gee thanks Billy Taft!!

Apparently my birth, on August 9, 1911, was the United States Event of that Day as no other event of significance was recorded. Can you imagine how my birth would have been celebrated by those powerful figures who stalked our country. Why it is a little known fact the President Taft himself came to Brooklyn Maternity and changed my first diaper. I think, not sure about this as it is a closely held government secret, that my first poop has been held by the Library of Congress these 101 years as collateral against our national debt. Yes kiddies I pooped gold and farted diamonds as a child!!!

My early years were spent living a fairytale life. I was the Suri Cruise of 1911, lol.

Damn I just pinched myself and woke up from my fantasies.

Actually, I was born on August 9, 1948, to Rose and Oscar Mantovani, and lived on Beetle Street in Greenpoint, NY. Later we moved over to  Marcy Avenue in Brooklyn to be closer to our family. It was a simple post WWII Italian American upbringing. Both my parents worked, we went to school at Transfiguration Catholic School and there was always lots of family around.

The greatest influences on my life, besides my mother and father, were my grandfathers Emo Mantovani and Gandolfo(Adolph) Schimmenti. They were old world Italians straddling the line between being Italian and being American. But from an early age they taught me what it meant to be responsible for myself and my family.

Responsibility is a concept that I have struggled with at times during my life but I have endeavored to impart its importance to my children, I think it has stuck, thank God.

So today I embark on my second century. A journey that will be interesting and one in which I am very excited to experience.

To all those that have helped, hindered or pondered about my efforts; Thank You! All experiences, whether happy or sad, strengthen ones character and moves us along.

"Inside every older person is a younger person – wondering what the hell happened."- Jennifer Yane

Randy