Member-only story
Surprise!
Gifting
Forever Young
“We turn not older with years, but newer every day” — Emily Dickinson
“With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come.” — William Shakespeare
Good and bad, I define these terms quite clear, no doubt, somehow
Ah, but I was so much older then I’m younger than that now — “My Back Pages” Bob Dylan
I look forward to my birthday every year. It signals a milestone in my personal life as well as coinciding with the move into autumn, my favorite season.
A couple of years ago, Kenny and I were sipping glasses of champagne, waiting to order lunch at The Lobster in Santa Monica, right on the beach. Suddenly a man came up to the table and said “I’ve heard a lot of great things about this place and thought it was worth the trip to check it out.” I looked up, and there was my brother Brian, who had flown in from Charleston, South Carolina to surprise me. He had worked it out and planned it with Kenny over the course of a full year, and I never suspected a thing. It was the best ever birthday present I could have received.
