It's my birthday.

I'm not trying to solicit greetings. It's not a big deal.

I just wanted to say that I've learned my lesson about answering birthday wishes on FB.

Better to post a group thank you than to spend a couple of hours answering everyone individually.

I need a break!

~

Not the kind you have while sleeping.

I had a hankering a couple of days ago for a deep dish pizza.

I checked online and sure enough, we don't have any local pizza joints that make them any more.

At one time we had a Noble Romans and a Siciliano, but both are no longer here.

And before you say it - no, a pan pizza is not a deep dish pizza.

I then looked to see if any grocery stores carried frozen deep dish pizzas.

One did, but it was a far enough drive out of my way for just one item that I just figured I'd put it in the back of my brain for a time when I need something else at that particular store.

Imagine my delightful surprise today when, doing my weekly grocery shopping, I found one in the frozen food aisle.

That will be my dinner tonight.

I will eat it, fondly remembering all of those times years ago when I could get the real thing whenever I was in Chicago.

Bon appetit!

First dream:

People are shrinking while everything around them is normal sized.

I woke up, used the bathroom and went back to be.

Second dream:

People are growing, while everything around them is normal sized.

I guess I covered both sides.

~

For years I wondered what happened to the love of my life.

Oh, I knew where she lived and how big a family she had,

but that was all.

Until 4 months ago, when I found her on (of all places) Facebook.

We have talked online quite a bit about how our lives turned out. Complete honesty.

We broke each other's hearts, but life goes on.

I suppose the biggest surprise to me was finding out that, after 36 years, her husband, who moved her to Alaska, divorced her.

I was also surprised to learn that she had a breakdown. For 2 years she was bed-ridden and had to be cared for by one of her sisters.

When we first started talking, all she remembered of her past was me... and that was foggy.

I have been filling her in on people and places she had forgotten.

More than once she has thanked me.

More than once she has asked me if my intentions for doing this are romantic.

I have been honest with her.

Although (as she knows) she was the love of my life, time has changed things for us.

She lives there and I live here. Neither of us wants to live anywhere else.

To know that we once had an exceptional love and that we still love each other today -

well, that will just have to do.

Knowing that she is now healthy and happy makes me smile.

No longer do I have to wonder what might have been.

It just wasn't meant to be, but I will always have the memories to comfort me.


~

Yesterday I saw a man walking backwards down the street.

I asked him why and he said it was a Zen thing and that I probably wouldn't understand.

I told him that all I know is that sometimes you need to look back to see where you've been if you want to go forward.

He smiled, said "Right on, brother" and kept walking.

I'm glad that I talked to him and could share his truth.

~

I find it ironic when someone who has so much more than I says they don't believe in God.

When you have money, a nice home, children & grandchildren.

When you do volunteer work, help the homeless and rescue animals for pets.

When you're doing God's work, have a caring heart and yet don't believe.

That is the biggest irony of all.

~

Last night, I dreamed I met a girl who was trapped in time.

For her, it was the 1966 World Series between Baltimore and Los Angeles.

She had a crush on one of the players, but didn't know his name and couldn't move on until she knew it.

All she knew was that he hit .286 during the Series.

So today I looked up the '66 Series.

The Baltimore Orioles swept the L.A. Dodgers 4-0.

The best hitter for the Dodgers hit only .231 that series.

TWO players for the Orioles hit .286 - Davey Johnson (who a few years later managed the N.Y. Mets to a World Series title

and Series MVP Frank Robinson.

Seeing as how Frank was (by far) the better looking of the two, I figured it had to have been him.

I only hope I can relay the name to her in my dreams.

~

Last night I dreamed I was driving in a terrible snow storm.

Roads were barely passable and there were two huge snowplows coming up behind me.

I thought I was going to be run off of the road, when at the last moment they stopped and let me go on.

I crossed a set of east - west running railroad tracks and was surprised.

Across the tracks there was no snow at all, only a light misty rain and I saw the temperature was 57 degrees.

As usual, before I could find out why all of this was happening, I woke up.

The mind is a truly mysterious thing.

~

I have scars, physical and mental.

You don't live as many years as I have without obtaining a few of both.

The mental scars add up. I have a knack for obtaining new ones, especially after I have dealt with old ones.

It's a part of life.

The physical scars have luckily remained the same for a few years now.

I have an inch long scar on my chin from falling off a bicycle when I was ten.

I have scars around both knees -

one is sport related, the other from a car wreck.

The scar at the corner of my eye is from the same wreck.

The list could go on and on, but the point I'm making is this:

We all have scars.

Some show, some don't.

If you don't have any scars, you haven't lived.

~

If you found yourself in a room alone with a very attractive member of the opposite sex who didn't speak a word of English,

how would you communicate with them?

I suppose you could raise your hand and say hi or hello,

but what next?

?