What of a way to turn 76! I could have been sitting in a beach bar on an ill-conceived road trip, sipping a cocktail alone, wondering what the hell I was doing.

Instead, I showed up for my job, wore my company shirt for all of one minute, then stripped it off and started patching tubes.

It's Saturday, it's very hot, and folks started showing up in droves! I was patching the down tubes as fast as I could, but we started running out.

Rocco pulled out blue tubes from the container that were flat and hadn't been used since last season. It was hectic, I even found our blue double tube, inflated it, and gave it to a dad and his kids.

Meanwhile, I kept getting birthday wishes, both online and from the staff. (Liz and I are FB friends). My very small circle of family sent regards, and my sister gave me a very generous Amazon gift card.

Now I'm home, cooling down, sipping on a cocktail. Which in this case, beats a strange bar any day!

Every birthday is a milestone when you reach my age. I marvel at it, respect it, and I'm thankful for surviving one more year. But the truth is, where your head is at, is the most important thing.

My head is fine, I'm working, with people I enjoy, and I'm contributing to the happiness level of many folks, every day.

Rock on!

Update: My boss Ricky just dropped by and gave me a family made apricot fried pie. OMG, never had one, delicious! The South is really growing on me. Also, Liz just texted me the count for today, 270 people rode our tubes down Shoal Creek today, beating last Saturday by 22.

Here you go, half eaten: