"F", THE FIRST LETTER IN "FOUR"

Today marks the 128th anniversary of the birth of the American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald.

His full name was Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald and he was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

He published four novels in his lifetime but his third, "The Great Gatsby", is considered his masterpiece.

I was born 44 years after Fitzgerald in Stanley, North Dakota and was named Franklin Bruce Taylor.

My father's first name was Franklin but the family didn't want me to be known as "Junior" so they always called me by my middle name.

I attended Jamestown College (now known as the University of Jamestown) for a few years though I left without a diploma.

While there I entertained thoughts of becoming a writer myself and most likely because of the Fitzgerald influence began signing my name F. Bruce Taylor.

Here's the proof, on a personalized college mug I bought at the time and which I still own and now use as a container for bookmarks.

I never became the writer to compare with Fitzgerald.

But I was struck this morning by something that would drive numerologists mad.

I was born on April 24th, 1940, or 4-24-40 and because of that have always considered "4" to be my lucky number.

Then this morning I realized that I was born 44 years after Fitzgerald and he died at the age of 44.

As I'm writing this it's 2024 and I am 84 years old.

And I have hung onto that college mug for 64 years.

Now is that enough 4's for you?

Lucky number or not, I'm still waiting for it to pay off.

So happy birthday, F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Oh, and by the way, I named my late son "Scott".