Weekend Assignment #4: Share the most memorable birthday present you've ever gotten -- or given (extra credit for both).

I guess the most memorable birthday present was in 1985.  I received an unexpected telephone call on April 2nd, just 3 days before my birthday informing me that my Dad had died of a massive heart attack on the job. 

I was shocked!  My Dad was only 59 years of age and in excellent health - or so we thought.  He'd just had some minor surgery on his hand a few months before that and the doctor had given him a physical.  He'd walked away with a clean bill of health. 

My Dad was very active.  No laying in bed for him!  He was up at dawn working, golfing or doing something.  In retrospect, death had to sneak up on him while he was busy at work because he just never sat around waiting on anything.    

The irony of his early death is that he had just bought a new 5th wheel trailer because he was going to retire later that same month. 

He never got to use it.  Not even once.

The most memorable birthday present that I ever gave?  Well, I guess that is relative now, isn't it?