Thank you, kind people.

There is no difference between one day and the next, not even if that one day marks the end of a calendar and beckons at the advancement of age and yet, it is different. I am a year older; I begin another year. Twelve months ago I was one person; today, I hope, I am an evolved person, wiser, more knowledgeable, happier, accomplished.

If you ever have the pleasure of doing business with my employer, pray ride the lift to the eighth floor and look for "pool office 812." There you will find the most astonishing group of lawyers I have ever had the privilege and pleasure to work with. Their generosity knows no bounds. Their intellect, intelligence, integrity and honour are boundless. I am proud to call them my colleagues and my friends. They are part of a long tradition in this office of celebrating the milestones in their colleagues' lives and without fail, they did so yesterday as I marked yet another year on the right side of the ground. They put to shame the vile allegations about lawyers and their petty selfish ways; no man could ask for better group of people to be associated with.

If you care to know, there is a coffee shop on the third floor of a building near City Market. It has an amazing aquarium. Such exotic fishes reside in it, though there is one hideous specimen that She does not care for. If you know this place then you know I am an infrequent visitor, but that I think their beef-bacon-cheese burger is a marvel of culinary engineering. She has a photo of it somewhere, the burger, not the coffee shop, and She helped me celebrate the anniversary of my birth with kindness and coffee. I was too full of cake to attempt anything more.

One day, if you are lucky, you will get to sit with my amazing parents, my extraordinary brothers, their patient, beautiful and generous wives, and my beautiful extended family. They will all do their best to pretend that I am an amazing man; you will be able to see through their embellishments. Do not get me wrong; they might be right, but I figure that if you are going to meet these amazing people, you might as well know that they live in petrified pins and needles for the day I will Do Something Big. I hope that by surviving one more year without bringing shame on their good names, I have done enough to keep their hopes and dreams alive.

As I trundle through another Day After, allow me to thank those who smothered me with cake, those who kept my eyes open with coffee and those who sen their love by all media, from the bottom f my shallow heart. Thank you for helping me see through another year. By the grace of God and the support of these fine people, perhaps it will be another year in which I advance, evolve, achieve.