The Year Was...

Do you like trivia? I always hated the game of Trivial Pursuit because I sucked at it. I mean really sucked. But let’s see how well you answer the following trivia questions. Stay with me here. There’s a point to all of this.

What year is it?

1. Ray Kroc started the McDonald's fast food restaurant chain

2. First Guinness Book of World Records was published

3. James Dean killed in car accident near Cholame, California

4. One of the top 5 hits was Rock Around The Clock by Bill Haley and the Comets

5. Popular films were Oklahoma, The Seven Year Itch, and To Catch A Thief

6. Velcro was invented by George De Mestral

7. Legos were invented by Gotfried Kirk Christiansen

8. African American Rosa Parks is arrested after refusing to give up her bus seat to a white person in Montgomery Alabama

9. Disneyland opens in California

10. Average cost of new house $10,950

11. Average monthly rent $87

12. Average yearly wages $4,130

13. Average cost of a new car $1,900

14. Cost of a gallon of gas 23 cents

15. Ladies swim suits $12.95

16. Black and White TV $99.95

The year is 1955. Consumerism takes off in a big way with the sale of some 7.9 million cars in the US with 7 out of 10 families now owning a motor car, and new laws were put in place requiring seat belts to be installed on all new cars. The average wages were now $3,851 per year, and the minimum wage was raised to $1.00 per hour. The first McDonald's was erected in 1955 and more fast foods and TV dinners are appearing including fish fingers. The first cans of Coca-Cola are sold; up till then it had only been sold in bottles. Rock and Roll music continues to grow in popularity with more idols including Elvis Presley, Bill Haley and the Comets, Chuck Berry and The Platters, and young men's fashion matches the times with pink shirts and charcoal grey suits.

53 years ago today, at precisely 3:00 on a hot August afternoon, I was born. I hope to live another 40 years or more. Long enough to dance at the weddings of our grandchildren. Looking back on the past 53 years, I wouldn't change a thing. OK, maybe a couple things...eat less, live a healthier lifestyle, win the lottery. All in all, it hasn't been bad. Life is one helluva ride!