Old Italian

I was told once that there is an old Italian proverb that if you live past March, you'll live the whole year through. The person who told me that wasn't Italian and didn't speak Italian. Someday I plan to go to Italy and check the dates on tombstones to see if there are any past March.

Bob didn't make it. In fact, he barely made it into 2012. I worked with Bob for a number of years; he was an architect, a great guy to work with. After he retired, I saw him infrequently but he always phoned me on my birthday. Well, not really; you see Bob thought my birthday was January 30, same as his. So every year on January 30, I'd get a happy birthday call from him; and I would wish him happy birthday in return. I never told him he had the wrong day because somehow it just never mattered. He had the month right. I missed getting that call this year.