I’ve never been much for celebrating Valentine’s Day (or as the more enlightened among us would refer to as Anna Howard Shaw Day), but on this occasion, let’s celebrate my wife, who is sitting across from me with the worst chest cold I have ever seen another human being have. Huzzah, Tracey! You are loved! Despite the phlegm!

A lot of you may or may not know this, but Tracey and I met way back in August of 1997 on our orientation day at Shanghai American School. It was my first ever trip overseas, while Tracey was a wily veteran of two-years overseas in Ecuador. We hit it off at a party at a long-gone establishment called The Long Bar, which is where the Ritz-Carlton is in Shanghai at the moment.

It melts my brain that we have been together for 29 years. I could not have dreamed up a better partner for this journey, and honestly, if you all were only half as lucky as I am, you’d still be pretty darned lucky. Tracey has given me absolutely everything, including two wonderful daughters, and I could not be a happier man.

So, happy Anna Howard Shaw Day to the love of my life! May we have twenty-nine MORE years of fun and joy!

Other topics:

So, the other day, I was in the doctor’s office and I was listening to someone ahead of me in line who was talking about some ailment she had. I looked at the woman and she looked about my age…or so I thought, because someone asked her what year she was born and she said, “1981.”

This froze me in my tracks. 1981. That’s nine years after me!

And then I felt old, because I thought that woman looked the same age as me, and I soon realized that I look much older than I think I do.

This is a problem because I have started dressing like an NBA player walking into a basketball game.

I don’t know about you, but perhaps a fifty-three year old man should not be dressing like this? I feel a lot younger than I am, so I guess that counts for something.

But you know what? I’m going to keep dressing like this, because IDGAF. You know what’s nice about all of the clothes above? THEY’RE FRIGGIN’ COMFORTABLE. I no longer care if I look like a clown.

Honestly? That’s all I have for the day. I have been quite tired this week, so we’ll go with a short newsletter today.