Wow! Thanks for all the good wishes. It was a good birthday. Wakana made me a nice dinner, pork chops in ginger sauce with rice and miso soup, and gave me a lovely card and some gifts. And then I come to work to find all these greetings from my friends. Lovely.

It has been a hell of a ride, Amos, and you are right that I am in a much better place than I was a year ago. This thread has been very good for me, both for what I write here and for the personal things I knowingly leave out.

And now I am 52. Looking back over those years I see a bumpy road, sometimes smooth sometimes washed out, but all leading to the person I am today. There have been some major changes over those years. The boy I was fortunately was changed into the man I am. And I am grateful for those changes. I can see the person I might have become if not for the turns I took on that road and I know I would not have liked him. And I am sure you would not have liked him either.

The changes I have experienced in my lifetime come from a variety of sources, my failed romances, raising my kids, my work experiences (good and bad), my days of poverty and the very few days of plenty. I see that I must be grateful for them for making me this person who can attract and keep such wonderful people as his friends.