My father, Barney Edelman, turns 75 today. Here he is as a teenager on the beach at Coney Island, several years before I came into the world. I believe that he’s sixteen. That’s the parachute drop and the boardwalk behind him, and it’s about as iconic a photo of Coney Island, or of him, as you can get. The past year been rough for him, with many health challenges, so I’m thrilled that he’s still here with us today. Whatever has happened in the decades since a friend of his snapped this photo on the beach, this is how Dad will always be in my heart and head—handsome, smiling, triumphant.

I’m not the only one who embraces what this photo represents. Amazingly, strangers have taken to it, too. Thanks to the Internet, this picture was just printed in the latest issue of Quintessentially, a high-end British magazine.

I was contacted earlier this year by the magazine’s Art Director, who wanted to buy the rights to use this image to help illustrate a story they were putting together on the history and possible future of Coney Island. She came across his picture serendipitously. While doing a Google search for Coney Island imagery back in July, she found this page, which I had put together as part of the celebration of my parents’ 50th wedding anniversary. I’m stunned that chance brought her there, since no string of search words I’ve used has been able to replicate her results. There are two other Coney Island images there on either side of this photo, but this is the one they felt best represented the place’s legendary past. Dad is now part of that story, along with antique postcards, photos of guys eating hot dogs and snapshots of couples making out on the beach.

Miraculous that someone on the other side of the globe would want to make my Dad part of that history. Miraculous, too, that he’s still with us to enjoy the accolade.

Happy birthday, Dad.