To everyone who wished me a Happy Birthday yesterday via FB, texts, messages, phone calls, ESP. (Yep, I received every thought and best wishes that you sent my way! And I thank you!)
I am writing this as I sit in the San Diego Airport readying to fly back to the Free State. Stevie Winwood singing “Valerie” plays overhead, and somehow seems appropriate in a way. Although it is lyrically a sad song, actually about a lover named Valerie who got away, the refrain “I’m the same boy I used to be” always resonates with me . (Interesting song fact – co-writer Will Jennings supposedly wrote the tune about Valerie Carter the same lady that Jackson Browne wrote “That Girl Could Sing” about.)