For those of you who haven’t been on my blog, I’m back in New York, alive and well, and a little bit wiser than before. I’m getting ready for the 11th birthday of 123Greetings! I want to tell you guys so much more, so read on…

Ya, can you believe it? 123Greetings is celebrating its 11th anniversary on May 20th. We’re all really excited here. We’ve come a long way since 1997 and we couldn’t have done it without all of you. Especially the newsletter readers! I’d like to Thank You on behalf of the 123Greetings team for bringing us this far.

It’s been a really exciting year here, I mean we got our ecards on the social networks like Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, Friendster, and Hi5. I launched my blog and now I am more accessible to you than before. I’ve spoken to so many friends from around the world that it’s really fulfilling for me. We love hearing from you guys and reading your emails, comments and messages on all of my profiles.

One group of people that are our biggest supporters are the men and women in the military. They use our ecards to keep in touch with their families back home. I really want to give a big shout out thank you to them because they have the courage to be on the front lines. If it were any other year, I wouldn’t know first hand what it’s like to be in a war zone. But this year, I met Fred, then the female G.I. and after that I started doing pet therapy with Kong; I’ve learned so much. I learned about the stories behind all these headlines. I learned about the humanity that news stories miss out on. And sometimes we’re bombarded so much by the media that we just tune out. I’m glad I can help in a little way with Kong.

I was talking to Fred about this and he said, “Ya know Bob, when I came back from Nam, soldiers weren’t treated with respect. People were against the war and they were against the troops too…” he was teary-eyed, it seems he still has a huge emotional connection. “At least now people make a distinction–they might be against the war but they’re not against the veterans and that’s very important.”

This Saturday on Armed Forces Day, Kong and I are visiting the hospital again. Fred’s coming with me to meet the veterans. I think there’s going to be a good connection. He’s been through what these young men are going through. Maybe it’ll be a good thing when they talk to each other… I’ll let you know how it goes next week.

The other thing that the female G.I. and Fred told me made a difference while on active duty was having a support system made up of friends and family. Fred didn’t have much of a family when he grew up, that was one of the reasons he joined the army. They became his family but when he got back, there wasn’t much of a support system for him. Fred said he really had fun reading my blog and thinking about my family. “You should cherish the things that you have,” Fred told me, “your parents sound really great. I hope I meet them in the near future.” I hope they meet Fred someday, too.

It was really great seeing my mom and dad though. We had our bits of drama getting there but we eventually made it. My parents were glad to see me. My mom was really happy to finally meet Kaitlin and Rick. “It’s nice to meet you after reading and hearing about you so much,” Mom said. It reminded me of some of the messages I got on MySpace and Facebook. Rick and Kaitlin crashed in my sister’s room. I crashed on the couch. I did like what my mom had done to my room, though. It’s a lot brighter and peaceful. I can see why she wants to do her scrapbooking and sewing there. Megan went back to her folks’ place.

Megan’s mom was glad to see her too. For Megan, family is everything. That’s why she went back to her family when she found herself at a crossroads in her life. That was the first thing that she thought of – the support and security of her parents’ home. She should be flying back soon. She said she has a big announcement to make but it has to wait until she gets back to New York. She sounds like a woman on a mission.

Steve’s been Kong sitting all the while I was gone. He said Kong was very upset when he didn’t see me for the first night. “Kong didn’t even come near me when he didn’t see you that first night,” recalled Steve, “the second night was a bit better, I guess he compromised and came and sat near me on the couch.” I guess Kong really missed me. When I got back home he jumped all over me and was running around the house like a mad dog, spinning like a top. He was like that for about half hour. First thing I did after he settled down was gave him some treats, then I took him out for a walk.

Kong calmed down after that. He’s one crazy dog, I can tell ya that. He’s not fussy and can put up with me going home late. He behaves enough that I can bring him to the office, well, except for that poop incident (read it here if you missed it) but he’s very cool overall. If Kong could speak human, I bet he’d ask me a lot of questions as to why I left him for so long. Maybe he’d even say he really missed me. I do love that crazy dog, he’s been a really great friend and companion to me.

Well folks, that’s all I got time for this week. The Zen quote for this week comes from the great philosopher, Henry David Thoreau, he said that “The language of friendship is not words but meanings.” Kong certainly knows that without me telling that to him. Until next time, have a great weekend!