Today is my birthday, and my wife isn't here to help me celebrate. She passed away nearly 4 years from the terrible Creutzfeldt-jakob disease. I will not go into details as to how that disease manifests itself, but it's awful...no cure and happens quickly. She was my best friend, traveling companion, etc. In fact, we should be traveling now. A day doesn't go by that I don't lapse into a state of reminiscing about our nearly 45 years together. Some of those thoughts bring a smile, others a tear or two.