Oldies but goodies...

Today is my 50th post. I can't actually believe I've been doing this for 50 days already. And while I don't think 50 is anywhere near old, it is a milestone, which is why it tickles me that the stories I found for today all have ties to the elderly who have reached milestones of their own. So please, no hate mail from the over-50 crowd. : ) 

The 60th anniversary of the day the Soviets lifted their blockade on West Berlin was May 12, 2009, and NPR.org reported on the 100,000 Berlin citizens who turned out to honor the 120 Allied pilots who made daily food and supply drops to the starved people of West Berlin. On Tuesday, American pilot Gail Halvorsen flew a WWII-era cargo plane that dropped chocolate-covered raisins to mark the anniversary. He was known as the "Lollipop Bomber" after he shared two sticks of gum with starving German children and returned to bring more candy from his own rations after that. He inspired other Allied pilots to do the same and the result was "Operation Little Vittles." How cute is that?

The "Canton Citizen" out of Massachusetts had a local feature on a family who surprised their matriarch, for lack of a better word, with a home makeover. Maggie Koelsch, mother of eight, grandmother of 15 and great-grandmother of one, went to California to visit one of her daughters, and 14 enterprising East Coast members of her family completely updated her house. The 83 year-old woman raised her children on her own after separating from her husband, and she is determined to stay in her own home now. Her family wanted to be there for her since she's always been there for them.

This last one from cnn.com is a little quirky. My brother used to be an athletic trainer at the minor league level of professional baseball for the Baltimore Orioles. I'm not sure he's familiar with a pitching prospect named Josh Faiola, but the young man is making news lately for his life off the field. And for once, in the world of athletes, it's for something good. Minor-leaguers are often hosted by local families since they don't get paid much. Faiola's proposed host family didn't actually have a room for him at their house, but they run an assisted living facility nearby and decided to put him up there. He's the new darling of the residents, even inspiring some non-sports fans to pick up baseball. Faiola has a terrific attitude about it too, understanding the value of having so many "grandparents" around to care about him and how he does. 

(Photo credit: NPR.org)

Flashbacks to sixth grade...

So I had to laugh when I found the following story on AOL News about a paraplegic man. Now you might think that was cruel until I finish telling you the story. Twenty-one years ago he was paralyzed from the waist down after a motorcycle accident. Recently he was bitten by a brown recluse spider. Yeah, I know, still not funny. Normally the venom from those spiders is fatal, but in his case it actually seems to have "woken up" the nerves in his legs. He's actually walking again. 

Now the reason I found this amusing was it immediately brought to mind the time my mother dragged me to the hospital in the middle of the night after I had been bitten by a spider in our attic. Looking back on it, I guess I can see why she was worried as the spot did swell and turn red, but all I can see now is the 11 year-old version of me in my enormous blue glasses, serious bedhead and oversized Minnie Mouse sweatshirt from a recent trip to Disney World being bundled off in the car to CCGH in the middle of a summer night. 

Although, I suppose I should be grateful for having a family who cared so much about me. The Australian version of ABC News carried a story on its website about a Congolese man who is going to be reunited with his family for the first time in 12 years after war ripped him from them. 

Police have finally ID'd a woman found wandering a New Jersey mall in 1994. Their initial search efforts yielded nothing so she was committed to psychiatric care, but an officer refused to give up and his latest efforts spurred an outpouring of information about the woman and her history (ABC News 13).

The last two stories of the day are about families grateful for happy endings, though they came in different ways. A family in Michigan was terrified their son was going blind for unknown reasons until they met an unlikely specialist - a neuro-ophthalmologist whose training helped him find a tumor and return the boy's sight (Grand Rapids News).

Finally, two sons of a man who died during World War II after his submarine went down off the coast of Alaska made a pact to find their father after the US Navy said it couldn't. Several years and an undisclosed sum of money personally financed by the two men finally revealed the location of the downed sub. The conclusion of the search helped the two men make peace with the tragedy, which was compounded by the fact their father couldn't even say goodbye to them due to the secrecy of the mission (MSNBC).