Half Empty? Half Full?

There are two ways to look at it: being hospitalized on your birthday might seem like a bad thing but (1) hey, you're likely to get a free cake (albeit baked in the hospital kitchen) and (2) if you're recovering in the hospital after hip surgery you're still breathing aren't you -- always a good thing on your birthday. And, as a bonus, you just might meet someone extraordinarily special like Bibi, a Venezuelan firecracker of a nurse who looked after Martha and became, well, a friend. Now that's a birthday! -Merrill

(Photo: McBride Orthopedic Clinic, Oklahoma City. Martha and Bibi doing the birthday thing, minutes before Bibi sang to her the Venezuelan Birthday Song, the longest and most beautiful birthday song the world! Everybody cried!)