V is for Vieille Vignes

Mr. L has been a member of the wine society forever.  That's partly because Mr. L is as old as forever.  He will be 85 next year.

He retired years ago in name only.  He worked as an engineer.  You know one of his designs:  the HumVee.  Before you curse the gas-guzzling behemoth adopted by the upper class as SUV oneupmanship, I'll point out that he designed it for the Army.  He shakes his head sadly at the thought of his wonderful beast chained to city streets.  Many of his best stories are descriptions of the terrain he drove to try to get the vehicle stuck in the outback.

He always motored on.  It may have been a self-described three miles per hour over V-shaped crevasses, with a wheel on each wall of the ravine, but he always made it home.

Mr.  L has made it his life's work to visit every UN protectorate.  There are 192.  His only remaining trip is to East Timor. 

I sat next to Mr. L two weeks ago at the Annual Dinner.  I got this picture with a crummy digital POS, and sent it to my Photoshopping BIL to sharpen it up a bit. 

This is how to be 84.

Comments

[Manise]

Boy that's a life well lived! My mother would have itched to draw him! Off to re-evaluate my life list......

[gayle]

Hoorah! Folks like him make me glad to be a human.
Though it kind of makes me wonder what kind of stories our granchildren will have to tell their grandchildren... The time they fought back that hostile takeover? Or beat back a computer virus that would have given every computer in the world hiccups?

[Kim]

There really is a wine society? That is so interesting! Mr V sounds like a man I would love to sit next to at a dinner and chat with. I am always awed at the history those that are a bit older than us have. How lucky for you to have had the chance for a chat!

[Caroline M]

191/192 is something in itself. I just want to be still knitting at 84, maybe if I stick at it my other hand will have learned to purl by then.

[Katy]

Wow--I only hope I can be like that at 84.
When I lived in Vermont, my 70+ female boss ran for state senate--and won. She was a hot ticket and a fabulous role model for me.

[Carole]

He sounds like a fascinating dinner partner. Lucky you!

[Chris]

What a treasure Mr. L must be to converse with. I'm glad you get to know him. The most fascinating person I've chatted with was George Seldes, an investigative journalist blacklisted by McCarthy. I only had one day with him (he was the subject of one of my college term papers) but it's a day I cherish. I imagine Mr. L must be similar in his uniqueness.

[margene]

Wouldn't it be wonderful to be strong and able well into late life. Smith had a cousin like that. She went to Patagonia, and flew over the Antarctic for her 82 birthday.

[Anne]

Heck yeah! Go Mr. L! I wanna be him when I grow up (if I grow up, that is).

[Marcia]

Amazing man...wonderful post!

[Sylvia]

Good post! So, what's his fav wine?