My oldest son, Ruben, has been living in New Zealand for the past two and a half years, building a life there with his partner, Janine. Their love story is a little like a modern version of a wartime pen pal story, where gals back home are assigned a soldier to write to, or they slip a note into a random Red Cross care package, and a relationship blossoms into a love story, some lasting most of a century…
It is always unsettling when you hear a loud noise in the middle of the night. Something that startles you awake, or maybe only pulls you part of the way from your dream. Many times, we wake in the morning, wondering if we just dreamed the noise, and never figure out what the source was. And sometimes, when the morning light comes, the source of the disturbance is revealed, and you realize something has changed, and it will never be the same again…
Today is my birthday, my fifty-fifth. I say this, not to elicit additional birthday wishes from Facebook friends (though who doesn’t love getting messages from so many people whom you are sure are having trouble actually picturing your face, from back in the day), but because I want to share my birthday wish with you…
