The more time I spend with my father-in-law, the more I appreciate his sensible and pragmatic approach to life. He is now eighty years old and has lived what I consider to be a full life. He has raised eight kids, housed many more (exchange students, grandchildren from the four corners of the earth, second-time-back children), been wildly successful, gone broke more than once, traveled to five of the seven continents and watched a fair amount of the History Channel. He's prejudiced and bigoted, but not to any extent that common sense wouldn't intervene if necessary.

All in all, he's a person who's lived an interesting life.