Many Thanks

Thank you, Highlander's Mum. Thank you for making such an adorable baby boy. Thank you for giving him the opportunity to be an independent thinker. Thank you for encouraging his creativity. Thank you for teaching him to appreciate and admire strong, capable women.

Thank you, Opus. Thank you for helping him discover what it takes to be a couple. Thank you for loving him and letting him love you. Thank you for helping him to become the thoughtful and considerate man that he is. Thank you for being his friend...then and now.

Thank you, H, and K, and A, and R, and L, and any other nameless women out there who have been important in Highlander's life. You helped him refine his definition of an ideal woman to the point where it came out, "me". You gave him love and affection and friendship at times when he needed them most. You created a place for me in his life and room for me in his heart.

Thank you, Syracuse University clique. Thank you for filling him with happy memories and wonderful friendships. Thank you for giving him those gifts that are such an integral part of who he is. Thank you for teaching him and empowering him and caring about him.

Thank you, Nate. Thank you for giving him fond real world memories of fun times. Thank you for being supportive of him and for being a good friend to him always. Thank you for making his happiness important to you.

Thank you, Great Aunts H and H. Thank you for spoiling him rotten. Thank you for making him feel so very special and so very loved. Thank you for showing him that making someone feel that good, can make you feel good, too.

Thank you, Mike Norton. Thank you for showing him how wonderful it feels to have a thoughtful, generous friend. Thank you for encouraging him in so many things in the last decade. Thank you for appreciating his sense of humor and his many talents. Thank you for being the source of many smiles and much good advice in hard times.

Thank you, State of Florida. Thank you for making him miss colder weather. Thank you for showing him that Kentucky really ain't such a bad place to settle down. Thank you for keeping him safe for me.

Thank you, Sean and Patrick and Paul. Thank you for loving him unconditionally. Thank you for letting him know the joys that family can bring. Thank you for being there for him in times when he has desperately needed someone to be there for him.

Thank you, Jeff Webb. Thank you for sharing so many happy times with him. Thank you for being the one to show him that the things that make him unique are the things worth embracing. Thank you for being the one friend he has held closest in his heart always.

Thank you, Tampa City Clerks' Office. Thank you for giving him the opportunity to write seven novels. Seven novels that led me to him.

Thank you, 'Slappy'. Thank you for helping spark his adorably curmudgeonly attitude. Thank you for being the one to spur him to dig deeper and strive to learn more. In everything.

Thank you, Tony Collett. Thank you for replacing a certain piece of damaged property during a time when he so desperately needed to have faith in the goodness of people again.

Thank you, Robert A. Heinlein, and Steve Stirling, and Barbara Hambly, and Roger Zelazny, and Edgar Rice Burroughs, and so many other very talented writers. Thank you for giving him adventures. Thank you for opening his mind to new ideas. Thank you for helping him explore philosophies he might never have known about without you. Thank you for being there with him in lonely times. Thank you for inspiring his passion to write himself.

Thank you, Highlander. Thank you for living the life you have to become the man I'm crazy about. Thank you for loving me. Thank you for letting me love you back.

Happy Birthday, Baby. I'm deeply looking forward to many more together. Thank you for letting me be part of them all.