so where have i been?

i never skipped a year, mostly, even if it seems like i did, i wished you well every year on your birthday (happy birthday to you) and a few other days each year when your memory inspired a smile... the memory of being in love always inspires a smile J and i like to smile so i try to remember being in love regularly (i live in love, so i smile a lot, though i've only shared being in love with someone a couple of times in this life and alas, it did not last for the forever i had hoped it would, but the memories of being in love still inspire a smile)...

this could be a long list of place i've lived, things i've done, people i've been with, and so on and so forth (what?) but lists can be so boring and are you really interested in the details?... if you are (and you find this blog and read these words) you will let me know what you want to know and i will share whatever you want to know, lists and all... but a simple answer to where i've been can be found here as much of me has been writing for the past four decades... i started as a little kid but really got serious when went in the army and wanted to keep in touch (and yes there were way more than 16 books and blogs of letters to you, though most were written before 1980)... i wonder if you still have any of those letters i sent to you (anything worth reading?)... ego always wondered if you'd have them when i became a famous song writer... but ego dreams big, as you may recall :)

off the written page, or off the web, i've spent about half this life working ridiculously long hours helping others and the other half in early retirement and i enjoyed almost every minute of both (but definitely got more rest and did many more diverse things during the retirement time)... i enjoyed drugs and travelling after the army and worked long hours at bdc (now bdso, i believe) through the 80s... i lived on ave j and e42nd st with my best friend of the time... she fell in love with me and the feeling wasn't mutual, which made moving to florida in 1990 right in many ways (my love of hot climates and letting her move on, though that took a few years because we had bought a house together in florida)... i didn't work through the 90s, moved to toronto for love in 95 and back to florida in 97 when it didn't work out... back to work in 2001... these days i run a health care facility in orlando florida and through about 90 other people and we take care of profoundly disabled people who can't take care of themselves... i live with a wonderful person who calls me her bff (she's a child of the 90s), though i've chosen to stay away from falling in love for more than two decades mostly because the right person has not come along... i have a couple of people who look to me as a father, one calls me dad, but i've created no children...

there are a whole lot more details, lots of years to catch up on if we are ever to catch up... i'd love to hear where you've been and how you are today... and so i write... i hope you are well, and happy, and know peace... and if you find these words, may they inspire a smile :)