Father's Day and Prime Numbers

The Fundamental Theorem of Arithmetic states that any natural number (except for 1) can be expressed as the product of primes and that expression is unique.  The proof of this theorem is one of my favorites.  The Fundamental Theorem of Arithmetic consists of two statements.:  1)  The factorization of any natural number as a product of primes and 2)  The uniqueness of the factorization.  The following website has an excellent proof of the theorem.
http://www.algebra.com/algebra/homework/divisibility/Proof-of-Fundamental-Theorem-of-Arithmetic.lesson

Any natural number greater than one has its own code and that code is unique.  I view this theorem as the declaration that there is a DNA so to speak in this set of numbers.  When a natural number is multiplied by another natural number, the new natural number has its own unique factorization but its prime factors are inherent to its "parents".

Today is Father's Day and I recently had a number of conversations with my dad.  My dad is a good conversationalist but I have found I need to listen carefully to gather tidbits of his past.  We were talking about a book that he enjoyed.  The book had a sad ending and both my parents admitted that they had wept at the end.  My father also confessed that he wept a number of times during the book and attributed to his strong sentimentality towards life.  This is the man who told me as a child "men don't cry."  I am also extremely sentimental and will weep at the strangest times.  As a child and a young man, my father was stoic and tough but when he became a grandfather a gentler side emerged.  That side was probably always there.

During his conversation, he showed me a small book that listed the titles of the books he had been listening to.  I flipped the pages of that small book past the titles and noticed that years were listed with small brief entries - Tuesday, April 5, "It rained"; Thursday, May 6, "Mowed lawn."  These were all entries in the year 1979 . . . Friday, March 3, "Chuck came home from Bemidji"; Friday, March 31, "Bill left for school"; Sunday, February 4, "Bruce moved to Rochester."  The year 1979 was the only year in which brief quips were entered... Monday, February 12, "Mom left for San Fransisco"; Tuesday, February 13, "Shoveled snow."  When inquired about the entries, he just stated matter-of-factly, "Well, your Aunt Lucille kept a book."  WHAT?!  Just then I realized that 1979 was the when he became an empty nester.

This is my empty nest year and I started a blog.  I am, we are a complex mixture of nature and nurture.  I am, my siblings are a product of DNA and an environment created by 2 (not 1) individuals.  Do I have all the attributes my father wished for me? Probably not for I am also my mother's son and I have my own uniqueness.

In my sons, I see a strong sense of independence, various degrees of sentimentality, a great deal of passion, and a sense of adventure.  Not all these are my attributes and the environment in which they grew was in flux as 2 (not 1) learned how to be parents.  We are still learning but we now learn from a distance and how parenting responsibilities have changed.

Prime factorization . . . sons, daughters, mothers, fathers . . . Happy Father's Day :-)