4-20 - Marijuana, Mayhem and Happy Memories

There was a birthday party at our house over the weekend.  Our son’s birthday is April 20, not that I didn’t do everything I could for him to be born on April 19.  If only he and my wife had cooperated.  Here is the story:

It was Easter Sunday, 1981 – April 19.  My wife was “great with child”, but she had been to her Ob-Gyn only two days earlier and was told “it will be a couple more weeks”.  We had been to church and I was just settling down to watch the Kansas City Kings on TV  in a rare playoff appearance.  That's right - KC used to have an NBA franchise.  My wife was on the phone with her parents advising them to relax.  Their first grandchild would most likely be born in May.  Then, just before tip-off, her water broke.   We lived in south Kansas City at the time.  Her Ob-Gyn practiced at Menorah Hospital – 28 stoplights into the heart of KC.  I ran 27 of them.  26 hours after my best Dukes of Hazard driving imitation our son was born.

In fairness to her, neither of us realized that April 20 is not the best day to be born for two reasons (and even if we had been, he was in no hurry to make his appearance): 

1.      It is Hitler’s birthday.  Consequently, neo-nazi skinhead types all seem to try to outdo themselves with acts of terror on April 20.  Columbine is one example.  The Oklahoma City bombing was close, taking place on April 19; and,

2.     If you aren’t aware, “420-friendly” refers to people who like to smoke pot.  Since Colorado and Washington have more or less legalized pot smoking for anyone with the inclination to fake certain medical conditions, April 20 (4-20) is the day they selected for thousands of glassy-eyed pot smokers to gather and celebrate their new-found freedom. 

This year’s senseless act of terror took place on April 15 and was non-neo-nazi related.  The good news is that one bomber was dead and the other was in police custody before April 20. 

On the 420-front, you may have heard about the gunplay that took place at Colorado’s 420-weedfest?  Rapper Lil’ Flip was performing on stage within earshot of the Colorado State Capitol when gunshots erupted.  Skater boy Ian Bay was riding his skate board and listening to alternative music on his headphones at the time.  He heard neither Lil’ Flip nor the shots, but looked up to see a stampede of people headed right at him. 

“I sort of panicked” he said.  “I thought I was going through an anxiety thing because so many people were coming after me!”  Yeah, I guess it might take a while to get used to smoking pot in public.  Here is a link to a video of some eyewitnesses to the shooting that resulted in thousands of pot smokers going from mellow to running  full-speed in 4.1 seconds (warning: explicit language)(copy and paste if necessary):

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMSbj0VJnVw

I suspect it will be a very long time before a similar event takes place here in Jefferson City at the Missouri State Capitol.

So, happy birthday to my son!  Thankfully, he has no neo-nazi tendencies and hates smoking, tobacco, marijuana or otherwise.  April 20 may have acquired some negative connotations, but April 20, 1981 was still the best day of my life.