a date that will live in infamy {december 7, 2021}

 Palindrome: 12-7-21

December 7, 1941 - a date that will live in infamy.

Nine years ago in 2012, we visited Pearl Harbor. We weren't there on December 7, but regardless of when you step onto the Arizona Memorial, you feel the magnitude of this event and reverence for those who died. Droplets of oil from the USS Arizona still rise to the surface of Pearl Harbor every day. Pearl Harbor survivors call the ascending droplets "Black Tears" or "Tears of the Arizona."

Fast forward to December 7, 2021. The 80th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. I think of my mom (she would have been 90 this year) and her former garage door code, 4197. Those numbers were significant to her: 41...the year of the attack on Pearl Harbor and 97...the year of her youngest grandson's birth.  

We're driving to Findlay, T's hometown. We pass the exit for Waldo, OH, and it makes me think of how our daughter loved the "Where's Waldo" books and how good she was at finding Waldo in a matter of seconds. And then driving back, Jackie Gleason's "You're All I Want for Christmas" plays on XM Radio. Memories of my dad. He loved watching the Jackie Gleason show and he just loved Christmas.

Found Waldo!