Dearest Hope,

The last time I tried a mind-reading act was many, many, many, many moons and dog-eared Playboy Magazine reviews ago. I used some black cloth draped over a table with one of those old fashioned multifaceted glass door knobs as a crystal ball. I bombed. My assistant in these matters FORGOT THE DAMNED CODES! There I sat, unsuccessfully in this aspect as well, trying to figure out some way to keep at least a small amount of the admissons we had collected.I would up $1.38 in the hole when all was said and done, and believe me, a lot got said and a lot got done... mostly to me. I had paid for that dumb door knob and the black cloth out of my pocket. The assistant didn't even have the sense to understand her part in the first theater thermonuclear explosion in history. Had she been a guy, I would have gotten at least $1.38 worth of satisfaction out of her.

We here strive to remember our friends' birthdays. It is a significant thing with me, for - to me - a birthday is the most highly personal and significant of all dates and occasions, far out stripping all the other days in the year. It is a PERSONAL milestone to be celebrated, cherished, treasured, honored and respected by those who know you. Even shared birthdays within a family or group deserve recognition in my book.

I have come to lean heavily on Secretary Sage in more ways than one of late. She keeps track of our little klatch and its denizens, usually leaving it to me to post an appropriate greeting for the celebrant. Unless she knows when your birthday is, we have no way of adding your name and vitals to our database, assuring us of a tickler file reminder a day or so in advance so that we can plan accordingly. Without being forewarned of the impending natal days for you and your daughter, I find myself, once again, staring at a fake glass door knob. The only difference between then and now is that this time I cannot fault my assistant.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY (one day late) TO HOPE AND HER DAUGHTER!

May you be together to share many more for many more years to come. And, may you never have to suffer the same indignities I did at my last birthday party. Those firemen were so damned RUDE!

I hope eberyone joins Secretary Sage and me here in extending our warmest wishes for a prosperous year to come for both of you. I also would dearly love it if everyone (even if you think we already know) will let us know your birthday (age is optional) so that we can properly mark our friendship with you by recognizing your most personal of all dates. We enjoy doing it and Secretary Sage is so damnedably good at doing such things up brown.

Hope, I hope that you and your daughter each find it in you to forgive us, this time.

In Viet Nam, I saw three field medics fight to keep a young boy alive so that he would not die on his birthday. They kept him going when there was really no hope of doing so, just to make certain that his birthday would not live forever in the memories off his loved ones that he died exactly eghteen years after his mother and father so joyfully welcomed him into their lives and fondest dreams in a time filled with hopes and dreams that would never be. Those medics fought back that bony bastard, Death, and the boy lived for three more days with hideous wounds that should never be inflicted on any human being of any age. Those medics gave him and his family a birthday gift that was special to me and to them. I pray that his family knew that we did all in our power to make absolutely certain that his birthday would never be the day their child died in some far off land of madness, filth, squalor and treachery. The medics broke a few rules and kept him from suffering any more than absolutely necessary, but there was nothing else thay could do for him. In fact, he was refused medivac because he was listed as "comatose" and the chopper pilots had their hands full with those who had a chance of survival; those were many, he but one. Happy birthday, Private First Class Robert R. *******. It wasn't much we could offer you on your 18th birthday, thirty-five years ago today, but it was all we had to give. I just hope he knew what were trying to do for him and his family. He was a good soldier and he fought bravely and well, hangingin with those medics, me and the Division Chaplin.

L-T, still remembering, praying to never forget anyone on their special day... even those who have gone on.