An old friend of mine wrote me this for my recent birthday. In some ways, our friends know us better than we know ourselves, and plus, this is super complimentary so I'll share it here... :)

Dear Dav, I know how you’ve disliked birthdays in the past, but this year for your birthday, I am giving you a small present of describing you to you. At first I was going to just make a big list of adjectives to describe you…but then I thought, oh, when you see a big list of adjectives, the sincerity of each adjective gets lost. It become like a page out of a thesaurus or something. So instead I made a list of adjectives that come to mind when I think of “David Frayne” and I added an explanation to each one to show you why I picked it. This is my present for you:

SMART – You come up with such clever solutions to puzzles. One obvious puzzle being real estate analysis…you are always spot on with your predictions and it’s because you’re so gosh darn smart!

FUNNY – I always laugh so much with you. You have such a funny view of the world and can easily see the absurd and share it in a lighthearted funny way.

CREATIVE – You come up with such unique ideas and all the time! Your creative button seems stuck in the “ON” position. You don’t follow the path everyone else does…you find a new one, a better one, a bizarre one!

GENEROUS – You have donated so much of your time, energy and money to neighborhood improvement – lowering the crime rates and getting people to see new possibilities. You are always quick to loan money to those in need, to help people make their dreams come true. You pay for landmark for anyone who asks.

UNSTOPPABLE – You don’t give up. You may think about it, you may daydream about it, but you don’t give up. You find ways around your issues. You find new solutions. You find a better way.

INSPIRING – You have inspired more people than you realize. You inspire them to take on problems bigger than their own. You inspire people to give their all. You inspire me to be my best and to live at my edge of comfort. You inspire me to give up my act and be, like you, generous and unstoppable.

HEROIC – The crime rate dropped in Oakland and in Long Beach and in Compton. You were a big part of that. Crime isn’t an abstract idea… it’s a mugging, a break-in, a murder. You saved someone from those crimes. You are a hero.

A TRUE RENAISSANCE MAN – You are a musician, a songwriter, a poet, you speak Latin, Spanish, Italian, German, you know all about investments, you know about computers, you know about psychology, politics and many more things I don’t even know you know! You can build houses, you can tile floors. You can play with babies and make children laugh. You are the most well-rounded man I’ve ever met. And you’re still growing and expanding!

Happy birthday my dear friend. Celebrate with a whole heart the day you were born, for it is truly a day worth celebrating! (Oh and btw- now that I’ve become a mom, I realize that birthdays are really something quite special for the mom… you should call your mom and thank her for going through the pain of delivering you… tee hee) Have a great day!