Decade 4

I am not sure why but I waited till today, your actual birthday, to write this.  I guess it is really just remarkable, reaching this mile-marker with you that seemed so beyond comprehension dancing in San Francisco, walking the streets of the Garden District or heading to Sunday brunch in Santa Monica. Young Paul is 50!  

Ups, downs, rights, lefts.  It has not been a straight path for sure.  And now, as we get a moment of birthday reflection in the insanity of this year of 2020, I hear your refrain from the last few months so clearly.  We are lucky.  And we really are!  It is that glass half full optimism that is one of your superpowers. Your love for me, Laila and yes, Blossom has helped us all through everyday life and especially a pandemic lockdown... I can’t believe I am saying pandemic lockdown!! 

As we wait, impatiently, to get up to Northern California so you can hug your Mom and Dad and see all the family we are missing I hope your have taken a moment to feel all the love around you. The little socially distant dinner party was just a taste of all the love that surrounds you.  The universe has provided you a lot of obstacles and you continue to find a way forward.  But, you and I get to navigate it all together and with a little Goose to boot. And let’s be honest, she is the best!  Let’s get on to this next part of your life adventure (hopefully in a car not an airplane) and I can’t wait to explore with you.  Lets do this! Ps ..for the next 73 days I am 2 years younger.

From Mark

In his 30s, Paul B. Wittenberg had the wisdom to hold onto the best thing to come out of his 20s, his girlfriend and far better half Charleen, eventually marrying her in front of friends, loved ones and a few unfortunate extended family members in New Orleans, Louisiana. During an earlier visit, they had fallen deeper in love with each other as they fell for the Crescent City. In a place dedicated to cocktails, jazz, and fried food, Paul found a second home that, if we’re being honest, fits him far better than his actual hometown. In fact, his love for New Orleans was so great that it inspired the creation of the Colonel, a character who sounds approximately 0% like an actual Louisiana resident, yet whose zest for life, bonhomie and general willingness, nay eagerness, to let the good times roll come straight out of the bayou. Later in the decade, Paul would gain two hips and one child, providing the Colonel with the freedom of movement to really let loose and a brand new audience for his antics. Husband. Father. Colonel. In his 30s Paul somehow managed to grow up and not change a bit.