My first contact with Richard was on the tennis court. And immediately our tennis was more about challenging me to tell a “dirty” joke from the pulpit than on playing tennis! Honestly, I have never repeated one of Richard’s jokes at church!
As older men, we often talked about getting old. We are getting old when—
~You pick up a hobby, and the first consideration is to pick one where you can sit down.
~Your friends don’t ask you how you feel, but ask where you hurt.
~The little old lady that you help across the street is your wife.
~You feel like the morning after and there wasn’t a night before!
One time after playing tennis at Mt. Tam High School, Richard invited me up to see his wonderful and eclectic collection of things. I couldn’t believe my eyes! If you needed anything that is now obsolete, there’s an excellent chance that Richard would have it. (He has multiple items of the same thing.) When the extension pipe to my upright vacuum cleaner broke, Richard was able to furnish me with a used one! It was gray instead of black but every time I use my vacuum cleaner, I know that it came from Richard!
Speaking about pipes, Richard suffers from the same problems as an old house, a thinning roof, a sagging foundation and clogged pipes!
Someone once wrote, “Fred Astaire was without dispute one of the top singers, dancers and actors of all time. In Top Hat, Swing Time, Holiday Inn, and other famous movies, he danced and crooned his way into people’s hearts world wide. But in 1932, when Astaire was starting out, a Hollywood talent judge wrote on his screen test: “Can’t act, Can’t sing. Can dance a little.”
Richard, on your 70th Birthday, we can say, you “Can’t ever tell a clean joke. Can’t play tennis anymore. But still can dance a little!”
Happy Birthday Good Friend!
Don and Joy S. Ng
September 17, 2006