...And So Am I

OK, so why am I stupid? (just to show that I can point out my own foibles, not just others).

I was born April 9th, 1967. My first birthday, then, would've been April 9th, 1968 (duh). We were living in Newark, Delaware at that time (reasonably near Philadelphia), and family lore tells me (since I don't remember my first birthday) that my Uncle Gilbert was visiting at that time, and we (the family) were all to go out to dinner, ostensibly for my birthday, but couldn't because there were riots and curfews going on. Now, having not REALLY grown up in the 60's, I always just sort of chalked that statement up to the notion that people rioted a lot in the 60's. It wasn't until I was turning 26 and there were lots of articles on the 25th anniversary of the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr's assasination, that I put two and two together.

Dr. King was assasinated on April 4th, 1968, 5 days before my first birthday. THAT'S why there were riots and curfews! DUH!

But, that's not even why I'm stupid; I was, after all, not really cognizant of world events at 12 months.

However, I STILL don't associate the two, to the point that today, when I heard stories on NPR about the 40th anniversary of Dr. King's assasination, I STILL think, Oh, wow! That happened when I was nearly one!!!!

Maybe in another 15 years I'll have processed this, and stop being surprised by it all. But maybe not -- it's taken me 41 years to fully figure out why, since the Super Bowl also began in 1967, it's number and my age are always 2 apart.... :-)