20 June 2022 – I am legally 38 years old, today.

My sister, Dena, who is 49 years old, and my younger brother, Destin, who would have been 48 years old, are also 38 years old, today.

On the morning of June 20, 1984, I entered the private quarters of Madison County Judge, Dennis Carroll, as Darin Lee Jolliff. About an hour later, I left the Madison County Courthouse, Anderson, Indiana, as Darin Lee Jolliffe-Haas. My siblings were no longer Jolliff but legally declared as Dena Linn Haas and Destin Lang Haas.

Upon the death of our birth father, Danny Jolliff, the previous December, our new stepfather, David L. Haas, only having married our mother, Diana Jolliff, two days prior to our birth father’s tragic death, agreed to adopt us.

When the gavel had ceased banging upon Judge Carroll reciting each of our new adoptive names, my new older sister, Autumn Haas, leaned forward and whispered in my ear, “Now, you’re officially a Haas’ ass!”

As each of my five sons’ adoptions was finalized, I whispered in their ears the command given by Autumn as my finalization. Little did she know she was beginning a new Haas family tradition.

While my physical birthday is September 25, 1964, which makes me 57 years old, my legal birthday of June 20, 1984, makes me 38 years old.

Whatever your physical, legal, mental, or spiritual age, make it a great day!

Photo: Judge Dennis Carroll, Madison County Court, Madison County, Indiana