Happy birthday

79 today.

Only a number. Hear this a lot.

Does it have to be such a big number?

Cue laughing-so-hard-I’m-crying emoji.

Seriously, folks.

The main thing not to forget is that I’m here. I’m able to take a deep morning breath.

Importantly, then another.

My wife Gaywynn said to me yesterday, caringly, that I tend to spend too much time looking to the past, trying to resurrect things that are gone. Long gone, often. I have, she said, much more to say.

Light bulb.

That’s usually the case when something is there in front of you, staring you down.

I’m writing a piece about Tennessee Williams. Much to admire about the man, but one aspect of his character that I return to again and again is that he did not dwell in the past.

His motto, that he repeated again and again in his notebooks and letters, especially when things were not looking particularly good, and that he lived by:

En avant!

Forward!

That’s the spirit.