Seventeen years ago, after retiring, our neighbors Georgia and Gary moved to Birmingham. Several months ago I found out that Georgia plays duplicate bridge. Since Nancy and I travel to Birmingham quite a bit visiting our son Mark and his family, I wondered if I could arrange a play date (smile when you read that) with Georgia during one of our extended stays. About a month ago I asked Georgia if she'd like to play in a club tournament this weekend. Mark and Jenny offered the use of their home even though they planned to be at the beach in Florida this week. Since Nancy didn't want to sit in an empty house while I played bridge, she stayed in Huntsville. I drove to Birmingham on Thursday, and Georgia and I played 2 games on Friday and one more this morning. The club served lunch between games, and Gary showed up to help serve yesterday. One of the other players snapped this picture for me.

OK. You should be asking why the phone booth? Exactly 50 years ago today, on April Fools' Day 1967, I was in San Francisco about to sail on the SS Remsen Heights to Vietnam. Just before leaving port, I decided to seal the deal, so to speak. I stepped into a phone booth, called Nancy, and without giving any thought as to what day it was, I proposed. Nancy didn't think much of my April Fools' proposal, but I convinced her that I was serious.

I proposed and she accepted on April Fools' Day exactly 50 years ago.