Happy Father's Day Everyone!

If my father, Nelson Hoyt - seen in the photograph above (which I took, by the way) around 1975 - was alive today, he would be 105 years old, which would have made him very crabby indeed. Dad was a dentist on the South Side of Chicago all his life, and hated every minute of it.  He was finally able to retire to Stuart, Florida in 1976 at the age of 67.  Both he and my mother wound up loving Florida, and they spent their happiest years there.  Unfortunately, my father had only 7 years there before he passed away, but they were very happy years for him, for which I am very grateful.  He worked very hard all his life and deserved it. My mother spent an additional 23 years in Stuart and thoroughly enjoyed it, too. Now that I myself am just 4 years away from retirement, I am beginning to realize that you should never take life for granted.  Live each day fully, because you never know how many years you have left.  An important, but difficult lesson to learn for all of us. Happy Father's Day, Dad!