{"id":2486,"date":"2026-08-14T08:23:33","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T15:23:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.timporter.com\/seconddraft\/?p=2486"},"modified":"2026-08-14T08:25:36","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T15:25:36","slug":"birthday-aging-friends-longevity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.timporter.com\/seconddraft\/?p=2486","title":{"rendered":"Thanks for all the birthday fries"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-medium\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" src=\"http:\/\/www.timporter.com\/seconddraft\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/77Crop-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2487\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.timporter.com\/seconddraft\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/77Crop-225x300.jpg 225w, http:\/\/www.timporter.com\/seconddraft\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/77Crop.jpg 540w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap wp-block-paragraph\">I was born on August 11, 1949, seventy-seven years ago. It is an improbable length of time, given my decades of physical and mental abuse. The greatest advantage of living so long is simply being alive, a daily win in the epidemiological lottery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A smaller advantage, thanks wholly to our current digitized world, is the proliferation, albeit decreasing with the years, of salutations and well-meant birthday wishes. For all of them, I can say with unfettered honesty, I am grateful. Each of you, regardless or the hastiness of your click, represent a part of my life, eras for some, moments for others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I must note, though, that the chronological calendar categorizes each or you, sorting you into buckets \u2013 colleague, friend, ex-something or other, etc. Here is how that works:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Over these seven-plus decades, I have, for the most part, lived a life of attentive industry, a striver. you might say, trying against the odds of nature and nurture to improve not only my own lot, but also those of some few others within my capacity \u2013 in short, to be a good person and be a good man (the latter, it turns out, is more difficult).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, as some of you well know, my periods of attentive industry alternated with equally persistent passages of unrepentant profligacy. For the latter, no names are needed. Those who know, know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What this means is simple: Some of my well-wishers align with the years of industry, some with the raves of profligacy, and a special few of you \u2013 again, no names \u2013 with both. Those few and I bear the same scars. As I am marked, so are you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So, once more, I thank you \u2013 for the long life, for the intensity (industrious and profligate) and, most of all, for surviving with me into whatever the hell it is we are today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Onward, amigos, onward, together we beat on, ceaselessly into the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">***<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>A note on the photo:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Today, thrusting an upwardly-held French-fry in the faces of those cardiological naysayers, I lunched on a substantial sandwich and fries at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.depotcafeandbookstore.com\/\">Depot Caf\u00e9 in Mill Valley<\/a>, here in Marin County.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Upon ordering, the counter-person, unaware of the significance of this day \u2013 my 77th birthday \u2013 handed me the above table number.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It can only mean one of two things: I\u2019ve got a least another year or I\u2019ll be gone by the weekend.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I was born on August 11, 1949, seventy-seven years ago. It is an improbable length of time, given my decades of physical and mental abuse. The greatest advantage of living so long is simply being alive, a daily win in &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.timporter.com\/seconddraft\/?p=2486\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[814,1002,1001],"class_list":["post-2486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-personal","tag-birthday","tag-friends","tag-longevity"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Thanks for all the birthday fries - Tim Porter&#039;s Second Draft<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I was born on August 11, 1949, seventy-seven years ago. 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