A Birthday Reflection
It's my birthday, all right, and that's no joke. I just turned 39, one hair below 40, which means I am almost middle aged. Need to choose the right stereoptypical behavior to adopt.
Okay, enough about my birthday. What I really wanted to talk about was something that happened recently when I came back online to Livejournal & Facebook after an extended absence driven primarily by pure laziness. I come to find out that one of my friends on both sites had suddenly passed away, just like that. Just a month ago I had corresponded, and now I was reading a eulogy. How could it have happened? He wasn't that old, and didn't appear to have chronic health problems that I was aware of.
I am speaking, of course, of billfl, otherwise known as Bill Livingston. Bill was a resident of Huntsville, Alabama, and as you might guess his career intersected closely with NASA and the aerospace industry. Both times, Bill sought me out and offered me friendship from out of the blue. He was a fun guy and always wished everyone the best. It almost seems a cliche that fortune deals this card to those most beloved.
Yeah, heavy stuff for a birthday entry, but getting one year older is one year wiser. This year is for you, Bill.