Birthday wrap

Well, it's over, and it's been the best birthday of all. Every one who came and wished me a Happy Birthday was a significant part of that, as were all of you who sent me separate email. And then, of course, there's SuperGirlfriend and the SuperKids, without whom my life would be an empty, barren thing... the kind of thing it was just over a year ago, actually.

This particular birthday is the best I've ever had, thanks to Tammy, and the kids, and every one of you who took the time to send me your good wishes. So thanks for that.

In addition to all the various gifts already enumerated, there are a few others --

* SuperGirlfriend asked me a month ago what my favorite cake was. I took the question perhaps more seriously than it warranted, and after searching my memories, I said that the fudge macaroon Bundt cakes my mom had used to make when I was a kid, back in the early 70s when every housewife in America had a Bundt pan hanging from a nail or a peg somewhere in her kitchen, were my all time favorite. So, of course, SuperGirlfriend went out and somewhere found a chocolate macaroon recipe and a Bundt cake pan and made me one for my birthday. And it's delicious, too.

* Each of the SuperKids gave me hand made birthday cards this year. Those cards, barring disaster, will be somewhere in my personal effects the day I die.

* Tony Collett and Mike Norton were both kind enough to mention my birthday on their blogs, gestures I deeply appreciate.

* Super Adorable Toddler called me up last night and sang "Happy Birthday" to me, which was one of the better moments in my life to date... and I've had some fine ones, this last year.

There have been lovely, near perfect moments in my life prior to this last year. A couple of childhood Christmases, and one with my college clique in the dorm room shared by me and the Late Great Jeff Webb, back in December 1980, and a couple more with Kristy, before things went sour... a ride at Crystal Beach with a couple of good friends back in 1979... a trip to Toronto with my mom and my baby brother Paul so long ago I can't remember just when it was... summer visits to my much missed great Aunts Hazel and Helen... tubing on the Cazenovia Creek with Mike Mahiques and Gary Stroh... a half hour bubble snatched out of hell with a guy named Bill Gilgallon in Basic Training, when we snuck away from the training company and raided an unsecured candy machine for illicit spoils... a long ago Halloween hay ride... my first con ever, which I attended with Rich Gruender and Dick Pero, and where I met a girl named Kim Kofmel for the first and only time... Valentine's Day with my first girlfriend Laurie.

But none of it shines as lustrously as the days I've spent with SuperGirlfriend and her kids, and none of it can measure up to this birthday.

Yeah, yeah, I'll shut up now.

For a while.