My Heartfelt Thanks

To all my friends and visitors who wished me well here and in emails (and to the handful who left voicemails for me...sorry, but if you had heard me speak, you'd understand why I couldn't possibly answer the phone): thank you.

And thank you all for your kind wishes for my recovery. It's been a tough road, but I'm glad I'm on it. I'll be taking some time off after the holidays....excuse me...after Christmas...to recuperate someplace reasonably warm and quiet.

Birthdays were never a big part of my family growing up, perhaps because my parents were too embarassed by how little they made to give us presents and parties like we'd want. Or maybe they were just cheap bastards. I know that would be my dad's point of view.

Anyway, as an adult, I came to the realization nthat birthdays really do mean nothing, aside from the fact that you made it one more year. But we mark that on New Year's Eve anyway, and it gets handled in one fell swoop.

My daughter gave me a present over the weekend, the entire Superman movie catalog on DVD, and that's enough presents for me. She's getting a new laptop in turn, so it's not like she's not making out on the deal. ;-)

I feel like I'm at a crossroads in my life, and this asthma thing has only thrown into sharp relief how time is no longer an ally in picking and choosing my next path. I don't know how close I came to a catastrophe last week, waiting for doctors to make up their own minds, but I suspect it was a lot closer than I thought at the time. If my life is now measured in days (and in truth, who among us knows whether that's true or not), then I have things to do.

Anyway, I wanted to share something my "older brother" shared with me in e-mail. Pete and I have known each other 30 years now...HOLY SHIT!...and he is precisely one day older than I am. Brilliant man who needs more brilliance in his life.

---Don't let aging get you down. It's too hard to get back up!

---THE SENILITY PRAYER : Grant me the senility to forget the people I never liked anyway, the good fortune to run into the ones I do, and the eyesight to tell the difference.

---My memory's not as sharp as it used to be. Also, my memory's not as sharp as it used to be.

---It's scary when you start making the same noises as your coffeemaker

--- The nice thing about being senile is you can hide your own Easter eggs.

--- Remember: You don't stop laughing because you grow old, You grow old because you stop laughing.

Now, I think you're supposed to send this to 5 or 6, maybe 10 people. Then something might happen. Oh heck, just send it to a bunch of your friends if you can remember who they are.

Enjoy your day(s), and thanks again, everyone!