{"id":153,"date":"2008-08-16T09:29:00","date_gmt":"2008-08-16T13:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/?p=153"},"modified":"2008-08-16T09:29:00","modified_gmt":"2008-08-16T13:29:00","slug":"birthday-wishes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/?p=153","title":{"rendered":"Birthday Wishes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-family:verdana;\">I am the most blessed man in the world.  While today is my birthday, it&#8217;s not a milestone, yet it&#8217;s nice to know that people remember.<\/p>\n<p>Yesterday, I got a huge &#8220;shout-out&#8221; on an on-line board on which I participate from a number of really great people.  It was initiated by a great friend who I met through that board, and who has been very thoughtful and with whom I have enjoyed developing a warm friendship.<\/p>\n<p>But even before that, the morning began with a phone call to my cell, which I missed because I rarely keep that infernal contraption with me.  My dear friend &#8220;AZ&#8221; sang a sweet birthday song to me, which I have saved on my voice mail and have listened to several times.  Despite what he says, he has a beautiful voice.<\/p>\n<p>I also got to speak on the phone with my wonderful friend Clay in Calgary, which was terrific.  He is such a great guy.  We could talk for hours, though he was at work so I couldn&#8217;t be on the line too long.<\/p>\n<p>Then the family began checking in.  I received several calls and many birthday cards from my siblings, nieces, and nephews.  Each one had a special sentiment and brought warm thoughts to my mind.<\/p>\n<p>Last night, we had a &#8220;snuggle night&#8221; where we turned off the TV and computer, and my partner and I turned up the 7.1 surround to listen to some beautiful piano music that I got on a CD from my brother as a birthday gift.  The CD was recorded in Rome, but the music was a compilation of various works from classical to jazz.  It was great!  My partner and I just lay in each other&#8217;s arms, and I enjoyed a long back scratch.  (That&#8217;s all I ask for my birthday.)<\/p>\n<p>At dawn, my partner and I awoke, and lay peacefully looking out our windows the tall trees in the back yard, marveling at God&#8217;s handiwork.  A bright red cardinal dropped by and said &#8220;tweet tweet&#8221;, which we take as &#8220;happy birthday.&#8221;  Then the squirrels did their gymnastics routine.  Certainly they would win the gold if they were allowed to compete in the Olympics.  Then I enjoyed another long back scratch&#8230;. (smile).<\/p>\n<p>As I was preparing breakfast, the doorbell rang&#8230; one of the sweet ladies who I look after who lives in the retirement community around the corner from us came over with a cake, and a card signed by some 40 of &#8220;my LW crew&#8221; &#8212; friends, all, whose lives are intertwined with mine.   I had already received more that 50 individual cards in the mail from this gang &#8212; these are the folks to whom I send cards throughout the year.  I treasure their warmth and friendship.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s just gonna be a great day.  I can feel it.<\/p>\n<p>Life is short!  Wear your boots!  Tell those you love that you love &#8217;em, very much.  I sure do.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I am the most blessed man in the world. While today is my birthday, it&#8217;s not a milestone, yet it&#8217;s nice to know that people remember. Yesterday, I got a huge &#8220;shout-out&#8221; on an on-line board on which I participate &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/?p=153\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,4,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-153","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-best-friends","category-home-life","category-partners"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=153"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}