Happy Birthday, Kojak!!!

The venue has been booked, 8 trillion invitations sent, 8 trillion RSVP’s made, the bomb of all birthday cakes ordered and the decorations readied for decoratin’ the venue (one in particular that will embarrass the hell out of you……I found your baby pics! Here's where you picture me laughing maniacally).

Seriously, I hope that tonight’s birthday celebration is the best you’ve ever had. I’d like to read the below to you and your guests as a sort of toast this evening. However, should the right moment slip by or my nerve weaken I’m posting it here for you. Happy birthday, hon! I’m blessed to call you friend…


A small delicate woman and her husband sat filled with nervous anxiety in a doctor’s office. They had tried to conceive but had been told repeatedly that it would never happen. Her fragile body simply could not bear or support a pregnancy to term. This appointment was different as was the news her doctor delivered; against all odds she had conceived. She was warned that the pregnancy would most probably fail ending in a miscarriage and to not get her hopes up. After being told nothing short of a miracle had taken place, how could she not get her hopes up. She and her husband left the appointment with a renewed sense of life. God had answered their prayer. Determination replaced anxiety. Determination to carry this child in her body, nourish him, love him and successfully deliver him. Determination to be a mother and give her husband the gift of fatherhood.

As the weeks passed her body tried to keep up with the ever changing biological and biochemical environment that pregnancy brings. She ate well, got plenty of rest and her husband cared for her diligently. It was a warm April evening in 1960, she was barely 7 months into her term. Something felt wrong. Her body had grown so weak and could no longer sustain a growing baby that it was never meant to support in the first place. Fear washed over her heart as her worst nightmare was quickly becoming a reality, she was going into labor. 12 exhausting hours and an emergency caesarian later, April 15th at 7:20 in the morning they heard the faint, frail cry of a beautiful baby boy. She and her husband, filled with love and joy for this precious gift from God, knew that though their prayers had been answered, their new son wasn’t out of harm’s way yet. He had been delivered dangerously early. Again, they were told not to get their hopes up. Premature births had a very high mortality rate.

Their beloved infant would spend the next 5 months continuing to grow and develop in an incubator. Each minute seeing their new untouchable baby attached to monitors displaying every heartbeat and breath taken must have seemed like an eternity as they watched him struggle to live, unable to hold and caress him in their arms. With each passing day their love and prayers helped him grow stronger. Finally the day came when they would be able to cradle a little miracle, touch his face and hold his tiny hands. The danger had passed.

Now, beating the odds, a man sits before you celebrating his 48th year of life. With 27 of them dedicated to doing God’s work as a police officer paying homage for answering a scared young couple's prayer years earlier. In our darkest hour and weakest moment when God is unable to physically intervene he sends his enforcers; the mercy of God working through the hands and hearts of those in blue. What is the first thing that most of you hear when arriving on catastrophic and terrible scenes where fear and uncertainty reign? “Thank God you‘re here!”

Today we are not just celebrating a birthday, another year of life. We are celebrating a miracle. Thank God you're here!

Much Love and Many Blessings,
Aza