Life In A Nutshell: Thanks Everyone

In a couple of days I will have completed six decades on the planet. It will pass pretty quietly without parties, parades or any fanfare whatsoever. That is the way it should be.

I can’t remember a lot of the time that I have been here. I think my first memory was when I was about three, crawling on the back window deck of a ’55 Buick. Not really earth shattering or even memorable for anyone except for a certain three year old. If you have read more than a few of these blogs you will have noticed that I do have memories of my childhood, but they are inconsistent and more than a little flighty. None of them really want to get nailed down I suppose. There are a few years from my mid teens to mid twenties when the memories are spotty and somewhat hazy.

I can’t remember what shirt I wore when I met the love of my life. I do remember it was in Tom Dallas’s Sport Shop on a weekday around 1:00. She was on a break from her job as a gas jockey and was wearing a yellow halter top and green shorts I think. Hey, I do remember what shirt I was wearing, a blue short sleeved post office shirt. I was happy to meet someone that was interesting to talk to and quite frankly, just a little (a lot) smarter than I was. I had no interest in finding a girl friend, having given it up as a lost cause.

Throughout my life, my memories of events just don’t seem to stick. I remember being in class when the teacher came in and announced that John Kennedy had been killed. I remember that Martin, Bobby and John were killed for what I considered to be senseless reasons. I guess we needed this as a society. There was a landing on the moon and that was just awesome, but I would have to Google it to find out the date.

There have been some innovations since I was born, the polio vaccine, credit cards, transistor radios, seatbelts in cars, the artificial heart, mini skirts, valium, manned spacecraft, barcodes, disposable lighters, the personal stereo, the abortion pill, Rubik’s cube, CD ROMs, cell phones, WWW, DVD’s, iPods and many, many more. I can remember my Data Processing teacher in high school telling us that some day in the future; computers might get as small as her desk. The point is that all of these things happened and I didn’t really pay that much attention to them. I use them and in some cases I thank God for them but I didn’t make a big deal of them when they first appeared.

No, what I remember are the people that have made this first sixty years worth remembering. I would like to thank all of the people that helped me through my troubled times, the happy times we shared, the laughs and the tears. Mostly laughs though. I had the pleasure of working with some of the finest people that are on the planet. Some of the biggest assholes too. My friends from high school have remained friends and although we are separated by thousands of miles, I just think of them and a smile comes to my lips. What a joy to have all of them in my life!

It goes without saying that the reason I am here on the planet was to help create those incredible people that I have the privilege to call family. The world is a far better place with all of you here. I love you Louise, Arwen, Maegan and Brendan. You make my heart want to explode. Not for a while though I hope. I would be remiss if I didn’t thank God or whoever is in charge of things for Hurricane and Tornado. These two kids are worth living and dying for. What a thrill to have had the opportunity to know and spoil them. Cookies and chocolate whenever you want it guys.