Happy Birthday, Paul!

Born this day, in 1962, minutes after his brother Andrew. I met Paul via Crown Books and Bruce Springsteen, in 1984. I know that Joe and Gordon were somehow involved, where Paul was connected somehow to Joe and I was connected to Gordon. I don't really remember how, exactly, anymore. Doesn't so much matter.

Paul and I went camping together in the summer of 1998, to the Great Smoky Mountains, in Tennesse and North Carolina. We drove out to Skyline Drive, down that to the Blue Ridge Parkway, all the way down to Great Smoky Mountains National Park. We stayed a couple night at Cosby campground in Tennesee, then another couple nights in Balsam Mountain in North Carolina. Paul was a great companion to have, being the expert birder that he is. He most famously spotted a magnificent hawk while we were driving this puke-y windy road.

Paul kept pages and pages of a journal on that trip, and I have a copy of those pages somewhere. And there were some pictures taken as well. (The above picture was not taken on that trip, obviously. I need to find a picture from the park and post it here, in lieu of the one above that I stole borrowed from his brother's website.) I think maybe some blog entries, or maybe a separate blog, would be a good way to feature that trip. We'll see.

I love Paul dearly and don't see him nearly enough. He lives in Nashville now, having moved out there for a job. Someday maybe he'll move back east.