First to my mother, who shares today a birthday with President George H.W. Bush. Unlike the former President mom will not be jumping out of a perfectly good airplane to celebrate. She is getting her nails done, however. A bigger celebration will come next week sometime after she is sprung released from the virtual prison Skilled Nursing Facility where she is currently incarcerated being treated.

This will be the fourth time that Bush 41 has parachuted from a plane in the past ten years. He’s done it on his 75th and 80th birthdays as well as in 2007 to celebrate the re-dedication of his Presidential Museum.

It is, however, not the first time that he has parachuted from a plane. For those of my readers who don’t know, young George H.W. Bush enlisted in the Navy during World War II and became a Naval Aviator. His plane was shot down on September 2, 1944 and he bailed out. The other two members of his crew were killed, but the future President was rescued by a US submarine. Instead of requesting to be immediately returned to his aircraft carrier, he stayed on the USS Finback for a month while it continued patrol.

So far as I know, my mother didn’t participate in any combat, unless you consider raising me and my older sister. Which at times probably made jumping out of a burning plane seem like a viable alternative.

Happy Birthday to Mom and President Bush.