Dale Says

For more than 20 years I’ve been writing summaries of what’s going on in my life and in the world around me on my birthday. Here’s an excerpt from 1990 …

April 24, 1990

On my birthday I’m 39 years old.

It’s hard to believe I’m 39! That was Jack Benny’s “age” and it always seemed so old to me. I somehow had a picture of myself as always being in my early 30s, so this is requiring an adjustment. It’s not that this age is so bad, because it’s not, and there are advantages, including a peacefulness brought on by maturity and experience.

The past year was a major one. In October Patty and I were married in a wonderfully romantic ceremony in Sonoma. Our friends and families joined us in what will probably be the best party we will ever attend. It was a warm and magical day and Patty was stunning in her wedding dress!

It was a busy year all around, as in addition to getting married I also moved to San Francisco and changed positions at Visa. This is all requiring adjustments, which have been relatively easy. I’m especially fortunate to have found someone like Patty, as she is very loving and we share a lot of the same interests and ideas.

A whole new world opened to me over the past couple of years. The experience of traveling to new countries is so exhilerating that it has become an obsession. Trips to England, France, and New Zealand have broadened my awareness of the variety of lives in the world and made me want to see more!

There was a major earthquake in San Francisco last October 17. We were on our honeymoon in New Zealand and didn’t experience the earthquake itself, but we lived the aftermath when we got home. There was little damage to our apartment, but our neighborhood in San Francisco was devastated. The quake took place just a few minutes before the third game of the World Series was to start between the two Bay Area baseball teams (Giants and A’s). It registered 7.1 on the Richter scale and caused more than 100 deaths and extensive destruction throughout the Bay Area. A section of the Oakland Bay bridge fell, as did a portion of the 880 expressway in Oakland. The Marina district of San Francisco (built on landfill) was severely damaged, as were parts of Santa Cruz and Watsonville. In all, there was more than $1 billion in damages.

After returning home from New Zealand, we wandered our neighborhood; many homes are damaged beyond repair, and others will take years to put bck together. Cracks in the streets and fallen houses remain as signs of how powerful the earthquake was and how much damage it caused. Everyone is pitching in to help put our wonderful city back together.

The most significant world event of the past year was the fall of the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc. The Berlin wall came down and people have been allowed to travel freely between East and West Germany for the first time since World War II. Democratic governments have been installed in Poland and Romania and three former Soviet nations have announced their intention to leave the U.S.S.R. The Soviet economy is in shambles.

In national news, President Bush exerted his authority in December by invading Panama. Fortunately for him, he was able to accomplish his objective of deposing the leader of that country (Noreiga) and installing a “choice of the people.” Once again, the U.S. has made the world safe for democracy …