Happy birthday, Dziadzio Bohdan!

My father, Bohdan Dembinski, celebrates his 85th birthday today. He was born in Warsaw, just around the corner from where I'm currently working. He lived through the Nazi invasion of Poland and bombardment of Warsaw in September 1939, five years of Nazi occupation, the entire 63 days of the Warsaw Uprising and eight months in Stalag X-B prisoner-of-war camp in before being liberated by allied forces. He lost both his father and younger brother during the war. His life's motto is 'one can get used to anything' ('do wszystkiego można się przywyczajić').

After the war, Dziadzio Bohdan's life stabilised somewhat - he worked for over 40 years for the same company and will have been married 55 years this June. He's physically and mentally fit (no walking stick), and, as in the case of Dziadzio Tadeusz, I'm delighted that our children have inherited such excellent genes for longevity. It's not many children that can boast four living grandparents with a combined age of 337 years!

STO LAT!