36 and counting....(No this is not a parental challenge to the Duggars)

I actually have to remind myself that I'm finally turning 36 today not 37. A few years back I got into the bad habit of changing my age mentally at the start of a year. So after 01 January I started telling people I was 36. Today I really am. I am now officially the age Bill Cosby was when I was born. I say that because he turned 72 today so Happy Birthday Bill.

I've got 4 years left to accomplish a few things:

• Ride a Bull
• Go to Spain and watch the running of the bulls
• Go to the MLB All-Star game.
• Open a successful business.

I think that's all that remains on the list. Ironically the top three were the original three and everything that was added after the original has been accomplished except for the biz. Here's to a successful year.

I got some amazing gestures the tale end of this week that I want to mention here. (Don't worry I'm not counting this as a blanket thank you letter.)

First I got a hand-made custom birthday card from my in-laws. It's got sort of a rustic theme (Larry's input I'm betting) and is pretty cool. (The first thought I had, of course, was "a person could sell a lot of these" - but some would say that I'm not right in the head.)

Got a pretty sweet Negro League All Star Jacket from mi madre! and a pair of socks. Zipporah's comment sums it all up when she said, "She always gives us the nicest stuff." We all agree Grandma T II is a great gift giver. For Christmas I'm hoping for a top secret letter from the CEO of Trader Joe's saying that we're getting a store in SLC. Seriously I would seriously consider moving closer to SLC if they had a TJ's Thanks Mom.

The WY parent people hooked us all up with some lovin' when we were up a few weeks ago and we (I) appreciate all that they do as well.

But the ultimate prompt for this post came from an unknown source. We were simply told that it was from someone we know.

First let me say that when something happens and makes me realize that people are talking about me when I'm not around is a little overwhelming. I generally don't consider myself someone that people ever think about if I'm not around unless there is something I've screwed up at work and need to fix or instruct someone how to fix.

So when , "Andy" showed up at our door with a gift honestly I was a little embarassed...okay my lack of a shirt which I ran around in vain trying to remedy may have been part of that. But still, I'm the kind of person whose stomach turns everytime I have to ask someone to help with anything. (Yes I'm that guy who will run through a tank of gas trying to find something just to avoid asking directions.) So getting a gift of any sort from someone that I can not personally thank or return it to should it happen to be something like a can of potted meat, is hard for me.

But Andy assured me that we knew the giver and so I'm hoping that giver reads this blog so I can say, Thank you. Thank you for the gift and thank you for the message we received with it.