I was an Ash Wednesday baby — the Irish think to be the luckiest persons in world.

I have lived the American Dream and realized we are all fundamentally the same — all mostly good people. All quite ordinary until thrown into extraordinary circumstances. And that most of life is just luck but the earlier I go to work the luckier I seem to become.

I have encountered luck at every turn even while lying beaten and vanquished not realizing that luck had saved me from an even worse fate. I have taken some real beatings and never been tempted to revenge, karma having been my ally and having exacted its own form of revenge.

I have a sense of humor which I am still able to operate from time to time. Knowing myself well, it is impossible to take myself seriously.

I have carved the earth, been tested in mortal struggles, fathered two fantastic kids, built tall buildings and planted trees. I have made a modest little scratch upon the world and know it to be completely meaningless. I love the leveling humility of life. I have been a friend without recompense while earning a huge reward on that investment.

I love people of all types and stations and have noticed that nobody in a sauna is able to convey their own status and affectations effectively. I think all men equal. I particularly like women.

I have charged the fires of Hell with a half full thimble and got out w/ nothing more than first degree burns.

I have married the woman of my dreams and found out I really had small black and white dreams. She has helped me to dream in color. There is just something about those Southern bondes. I was smitten at the first “ya’ll” and it took 10 years to close the deal.

I intend to live forever and fight death the best out of five and having lost, I will ask for the best of seven, etc. When Hell freezes over, I will lace up my skates and fight the Devil on the ice. I am not going without a fight.

Everything else has been a blast.