My father, were he still alive, would have turned 57 years old today. It’s been almost three years since his passing and I often wonder to myself what he would think of our current state of affairs.

Locally, I can only imagine his laughter and disbelief at our city’s continued crow phenomenon. I’m not entirely sure what he would find more humorous, however – the Jurassic Park soundtrack which welcomes me to work every morning or the fact that the crows, while no longer infesting the park, have migrated north and east to an area surrounding my little one-room apartment (as an aside, I’d like to take a moment to apologize to the collective crow consciousness, there will be no more down-turned thumbs from me).

Gas prices would’ve had my father fit-to-be-tied, of that I can be certain. The man absolutely hated, with a passion, gassing up the old work van. I can still remember, vividly, his unbridled rage when gasoline hit $2 per gallon. What he would think now, I don’t care to speculate on.

Politically, I’m fairly certain my dad would’ve remained indifferent. I never knew him to vote, locally or nationally, and he had very little use for politicians as a rule. He despised his ever-rising taxes (although he always paid them on time) and he had very little interest in any political agenda, no matter which party.