Thanks!

I had a wonderful birthday yesterday. In the morning I got to do something I love - fishing on the Pacific. I caught a Sculpin and a Barracuda that was too small to keep.

In the evening some friends took me to the Old Spaghetti Factory. They solicited letters from friends & family & then took turns reading them. Thanks to all who called, wrote, sent e-mails, text messages, facebook shout-outs, etc.! It was a lot of fun and very humbling hearing what you wrote.

We really laughed at a portion in my Dad's letter that I'll relate here. He spent some time this last week looking at some of my photos and papers that they have at home.

"I also found a really cool list of 10 things that you were promising yourself about life. I'd sure like to know how old you were when you wrote the list, but I'd guess that it was somewhere in the second, third, or fourth grade. The list is printed, but your signature at the bottom is written in cursive, so I think that may be a tipoff as to when you wrote it. Want to know what you wrote? Here is the list.

1. I will never smoke
2. I won't quit high school
3. I will graduate from college
4. I won't marry for money
5. I won't beat my children
6. I won't watch T.V. a lot
7. I won't change my religion
8. I won't drink
9. I won't try drugs
10. I won't be on welfare

It seems to me that those were pretty good goals for you as a child, and it appears that you have lived up to them in your life. I do wonder about number five. I wonder if the list was written after one of the infrequent spankings either Sharon or I administered. :) "

So .... I was fascinated by this list that was found. I was pleased with it - except for #4. I'm willing to make some concessions now on that one. I learned cursive in the second grade and tried drugs in the third so that tells us when it was written. :)

Sleep depravity took over at the end of the meal. I could identify with the would-be drunk driver at that point. I wanted to charge my phone which was as dead as I was & go check the alarm system at work to be sure it was armed. The Kesslers threatened to take my keys and phone. Their will thankfully won out. I ignored the phone, re-charged it and myself on their couch. Thanks! I'm well rested and ready to write the next chapter in life.

I heard the song "All the World" coming to work this morning & it seemed apropos for how I feel today. [Had a chance to serve the ladies (Point of Grace) dinner while catering in college.] I would post the lyrics here but want to abide by the copyright guidelines. I could probably do it with the church's license but don't know all the ins & outs of that. You can google it if you'd like. Sorry.