Christmas Day, I drove up to Arden, North Carolina, to have dinner with my dad at Ardenwood, a very nice retirement community where he lives. Ardenwood sits on mountain ridge overlooking the surrounding Appalachian Mountains. It is an incredible view, and they’d hired a new head chef and the food is pretty darn good. I was looking forward to the visit. We visited in dad’s apartment for about two hours, and then headed to the dining facility for dinner.

There were seven of us at the table, all friends of dad. Besides dad and myself, there were Gabby, Elaine, John, John’s son (also John), and his wife, Alita. Gabby was from Switzerland, Elaine had a PH.D in Organic Chemisty, John Sr. was a retired Army colonel, and John Jr. was a retired Marine Corps major. I am not sure what his wife, Alita, did. It was a very interesting group…