Thank you all for the birthday greetings.  Turning another decade is always a time for reflection.  Amazement to have come so far and prayers for continued health and longevity.
 
I want to thank our sneaky middle son, Shaun, the computer guru, for letting the cat out of the bag. Thanks, honey.
 
I was born eons ago in Brooklyn so coming into NY harbor at this particular time was a trip into the past through my memory.  Since I left NY in the late 60’s there were a lot of things I’d forgotten.  Wayne kept asking “What’s that building?”  “What is that area called?”  “Where is Central Park?”  Donald Trump and his ilk have made some big changes in over 40 years.  I just didn’t recognize it all.
 
But there were some things that reached into my soul as I thought about the day. We anchored behind the Statue of Liberty.  I climbed up her arm to the torch as a kid. Don’t think you can go that high anymore.
 
Give me your tired, your poor
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free
The wretched refuse of your teaming shores.
Send these, the homeless tempest-tossed to me.
I lift my lamp beside the Golden Door.
 
I learned those words, her inscription, set to music, in high school.  NYC public schools were not so bad!
 
As we set off the next morning up the East River (it divides Manhattan from Brooklyn and Queens) we passed under the Williamsburg Bridge.  My Dad used to work in that section of Brooklyn at a bank that is no longer in existence.
 
On past the Chrysler Building (beautiful) and the Empire State Building.  One of my first jobs was as a secretary in the Empire State Building for a company that was a leader in making paper operating room sheets and doctor’s paper shoe covers.  And, of course, paper dresses, the mid 60’s mini craze.
 
The UN Building, a wonderful high school field trip.
 
On past upper Manhattan and then the lower Bronx – Fort Apache.  Made me think of our friends Jesse Read and his brother Del.  Two wonderful men that raised themselves up from a difficult beginning there.
 
Then on the Queens side, La Guardia airport.  I took my first plane to Miami when I was 11 wearing my navy blue taffeta dress.  You dressed up for a flight in those days.  Our home in Glendale was not far from there.
 
Out through the Throgs Neck Bridge and anchored in a cove – one side was Queens, the other Long Island.  Names and places from my childhood.
 
So my birthday was a nostalgic journey.  It wore me out !  I think for my 70th I’ll go somewhere I’ve never been.
 
Now I wish each of you a very happy birthday for 2005 though I don’t know the exact date for each.  May it be as special to you as this was to me.
 
With love,  Capt'n Lynnie