January 22, 1958

I was born. Today, 50 years later, seems like I am still rebirthing my own life.

I have had so many lives already, full, rich, wonderful lives in every sense of those words, yet I continue to re-invent myself and begin living again. Nope, I never did die, but occasionally felt like I was depending on the pain. But all that is history and now I am living life as colorful, painfree and bright as I possibly can! Ya know, when you turn 50 so many friends, old and new, want to celebrate with you. My Isla friends keep looking down that dusty, now paved road to see if my gate is open to come by for a Birthday Beer. My Beaumont friends want the combination to the Creekhouse gate so they can come by for a glass of red wine to sit on the broken deck and watch the water go by and reminisce about all those days gone by. My Bellingham girlfriends want to know why can't I come by for an evening of pizza, art and gossip. My Carmine/RoundTop bunch, including Matt wonder how could I choose to abandon the birthday revelry planned in my honor? But the answer to them all is easily understood, when I admit that the most important gift I could give myself is time spent with my son, Scooter. You see for four years during the time devoted to his career in The Army, we rarely spent much time together, so now when I can grab a few moments with him, I go for it. After all, "it's my party, and I'll go if I want to." So here I am in Vallejo, California with Scooter and Rachel for one week of cooking, laughing, talking, hangin pictures, watching hilarious movies, going to the gym and simple random moments. For now, my life is complete. But I am still looking forward to the next curve in the road, the one that returns me back home to the countryside in Carmine, Texas!