On September 14th, 1939, Margaret and William Wilson rejoiced in the arrival of baby Ian at the Holgate Nursing Home in the city of York in England.
After 74 years on planet Earth I think I qualify as a survivor.
Why?
1939 -40 was the coldest winter in a hundred years so I received a chilly welcome into this world. For the next three months I clung to life with an un-diagnosed bowel infection. For the next four years my city was bombed flat by the German Luftwaffe.
Tickling matches with my elder sister almost killed me.
At 16 years old I was expelled from my Alma Mater, Nelson Grammar School.
At seventeen I almost succumbed to a vicious bout of malaria in Africa.
By 22 (by then a Christian) I narrowly missed being failed at college for interrupting my professors' lectures.
The redeeming factor in my life has been my patient and gracious wife, Pauline, who can truly claim to be a survivor after 45 years of marriage to Ian
We both survived raising three teenagers and are currently involved in our latest survival course helping raise 10 grand-children.
Then let us senior citizens agree, that surviving seven decades on this Earth, IS to succeed, despite your bank balance saying otherwise.
Jubilate.
Ian
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