I’m near 59 and not dead. Something of an Accomplishment.

Lots of people — some of them I knew well — have failed to achieve this milestone. So I’m grateful for the good health and long life (so far) which I have enjoyed …

I got several calls from family and a friend to wish me a happy — Folks, keep those cards and letters coming in! — So far having a pleasant day, and Adrienne cooked us lunch. The casual visitor here may not appreciate the earth-shattering significance of …

… the significance of Adrienne cooking lunch.

While I cook us many meals, and enjoy having somebody cooking for me — it seems a loving and neighborly thing to do — Adrienne, the woman, doesn’t like to ccok. She could live an eternity on yogurt and apples, I’m certain of it. Maybe a can of tuna fish. For many years, on certain years, around Christmas/Thanksgiving time, I might get a vegetable pot pie made with a cat face cut into the crust … if I was lucky.

Some years, no cat-face pie. Too bad. I was looking forward to that cat-face pie.

You know those stories your mama used to threaten you with, when you were very little. No, not the stories about the– Wait a minute. Let’s start over. You know how your mama used to threaten you around Christmastime with the claim that bad children would receive a lump of coal? (What was with this lump of coal? In Texas nobody uses coal. It’s natural gas, man. Why the hell Santa would bring coal?)

Well, a year with no cat-face pie seemed like getting the lump of coal in the stocking. Just out of luck, for now. Maybe next year …

In the meantime, I’m almost 59, and very happy to be here, thank you very much, and I’d like to thank the members of the academy, and my mother, and …