Well, here I am this Saturday morning in beautiful, rural, Coventry, CT, and I'm glad to be alive!
The morning is crisp and cold, with a heavy frost on all that I survey from the warm, steamy side of my window pane.  I sit here at this keyboard, all wrapped up snug and tight in my heavy, hooded bathrobe and look out of the window next to me to see three horses and a pony, all puffed out like huge cotton balls, blowing steam from the nostrils and contentedly chomping on hay that I just threw out to them. 
Yup! On weekends, I venture out to the barn in the frosty mornings in just my monk's robe,(a.k.a., Grim Reaper Robe), and insulated barn boots to water, hay and grain the horses.
About ten feet away from the herd, between the pasture and the house, sits Dixie The Dog, watching the horses intently and making sure that none of them tries to get past her and charge the house to do who knows what damage to her beloved master. She's a good protector.
This cold that I have, or whatever the hell it is, is waning.  Once again, the tiny little robots in my body are doing their work and winning the battle against the intruders.  These valiant defenders have been doing their duty for over fifty-five years now, and they have yet to let me down.
Although this particular cold has been an amazing one.  It really came on hard and strong and threw me for a loop.  I usually go to work when I'm feeling just a little under the weather.  In spite of all the kidding that I do about being a baby when I'm sick, I usually don't let illness stop me.  (For instance, during the opening night of the latest show I directed, I was at the theater with a fever of 101.  I even went out to drink with the cast afterwards. The fever was gone the next day.)
That's not to say that when I'm home and sick, I don't whine like an infant and drive my poor wife nuts.  I do.  I make no bones about it.  At home, when I'm sick, I'M SICK!!!!! (Sweet, understanding, patient Mary Ellen!)
This current cold, however, smashed into my system like a runaway freight train, and really sent me reeling.  Anybody who was less of man would probably have been done in, but I prevailed.
Last night was a great one for me.  At 5:50 p.m., Mary Ellen and I got in the car and drove 3/4 of a mile to my son's new house.  He and his very pregnant and wonderful fiancee had us over for our first dinner in their new house.  (The house used to belong to our friend Merton. When Merton died back in October, he left everything to Mary Ellen.  So she sold the house to Scott and Sandy for as low of a price as Probate would allow...Now our granddaughter-to-be, who is scheduled to make her appearance on Feb. 16, 2009, will be raised 3/4 of a mile from our house!)
So, dinner was homemade wine, salad, lasagna and chocolate pie.  And there is only one person in the whole world who could have done a better job with it, and that is Mary Ellen. 
Sandy was SO NERVOUS that she flipped a pie over as she was serving it.  I looked at her and said, "What's going on, kid?"
She looked at me and replied, "I just want to really make a good impression you, Pops." (She calls me Pops.)
I took her by the hand and said, "You've already done that, Sweetie... way back when I met you for the very first time!"
She relaxed after that, and we all had a great time in their house. 
It is SUCH A GREAT feeling to wrap up yourself and those you love in a warm, heavy, secure blanket of familial love!
Six years ago, Scott and I were on the outs.  He couldn't stand me.  He told me then that he wished I was never a part of his life, and that he wished he didn't have a father.  (You've got no idea how much those words hurt! But I never let him know.)
As we parted last night, he wouldn't shake my hand.  I proferred it to him, and he batted it to one side.  He hugged me instead. Being the kind of person that I am, I left the house in tears.  It felt SOOOO INCREDIBLY GOOD! (But, then again, I cry a lot.  My friend Oombutu says that he thinks I cry at hockey games!)
Tonight, Mary Ellen and I will spend with friends at a party.  It is good to surround yourself with friends too.
Family and good friends. 
We will also have good food and grog. It is ALSO good to surround yourself with good vituals and beer!
Ah! It is GOOD to be King!
What else could make a man feel so rich?
It's such a great life!