On this day, many years ago...

 

... a boy was born into a family of 4; the two other children were daughters, 12 1/2 and 13 1/2 years old.  I'm guessing that boy was a whoops.  He tried being born breach... his Mother said, "You came into this world telling it to kiss your ass, and you haven't changed since."

I didn't say it was a sweet story.

Yes, it's my birthday.  Yes, it's a big one with a zero at the end.  No, I never thought I'd live this long.  And, as Steph says, "Now that we're building this new house, you have to live long enough to enjoy it."

Or, as I said to her this morning when she called, "I have to live long enough to be able to embarrass you in person once again."

I didn't say it was a sweet story.  Did I say that already?  I'm kidding, of course - I'm as sharp as a... as a... what do you call those things with a pointy end on 'em?

There was a time when I had a "birthday season" - starting around the 4th of July and continuing for at least 2 weeks.  Back then, I thought it was nice that people set off fireworks to start by birthday season.  I don't want to say that someone spoiled it, but we used to give everyone the day off in the studio.  And then someone - I won't mention Stephanie by name - booked sessions on that special day.  So, no one got the day off.  And when we worked for the whale watch company, it was only the last year we were there that the rotation was such that I got my birthday off.  But, since re-retiring from that, I haven't had to work on my birthday.

I expect there will be some adoring.  That's my favorite part.  Perhaps some nudity: the annual airing of the birthday suit.  TMI?  I didn't say this would be a sweet story.

I was up and heading to the Hart Ranch office to see if we could get a site in the upper area starting tomorrow - that will be the start of our 9 days "out."  That was at 7:00, and when I pulled on the (locked) door, I discovered that they don't open until 8:00.  Back to the coach and doing my best Cousin Eddie impersonation...

 

I dumped our holding tanks.  Took Rufus for a walk.  Then, the birthday phone call from our adoring daughter.

Soon, it will be time for the opening of the cards, where Stephanie likes to send one funny one and one mushy one... to see if she can get her Father teary-eyed.  It usually works.  There is also a gift bag sitting on the counter... I am assuming it is for me.

That said, the big gift started a few days ago, when Joan said to me, "I know you really like all the guitars you have, but what would be your dream guitar if you were to add another one?"  Then she told me that she saw Emerald was having a 25% off sale to celebrate their 25 years of making guitars.  I told her the model that would be my choice.  She said, "Pick a favorite, then a back-up."  She did the same.  We picked the same "favorite."  Then she said, "Let's order it.  You have some money set aside from the guitars and stuff you sold when we were in Arizona - I'll make up the rest."

"Really?"

"Yes, really.  This is a big birthday and you should have something special."

We ordered it.  Well, we tried to order it - Emerald's website was overwhelmed with all the traffic this sale was generating.  I couldn't get through with my user name on my computer.  She started another account on her iPad and got through.  A few seconds later, we got the confirmation e-mail that the guitar was ours.

 That's a screen shot of Alistair Hay (the owner of Emerald) holding that guitar.  It really is a beauty.

 

Yesterday, I got an email from Emerald saying that the overwhelming response to their sale meant it would take most of this week to get those guitars final-inspected and packaged to be shipped... "please be patient."  Understandable.  They sold over 100 guitars in the first 24 hours.  Over 200 sold since the sale was announced (Thursday night, Ireland time).  We did get in on the first 24 hours.

This morning, 3 emails from Emerald: the first asking for patience; the second saying my guitar is ready and will be shipped this week; the third with a UPS tracking number.  That tracking number just means a label has been created, not that the box has been picked up by UPS.  So, I will be patient.

Happy Birthday to me!

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Joan was digging around on Emerald's site, looking for this specific guitar.  She found it.  There are nice detail images - this is one of Emerald's "glamour shots" of it...