Happy birthday De: even belatedly, a special wish

Ever since I launched TREKLAND a few years back, I always make it a point to mark at least one Trekland birthday every year, out of all the many involved: my own personal fave, our own DeForest Kelley—and do it by sharing a photo from the file I collected from friends after his death in 1999.

This year, I am a day late—but I hope not a dollar short. In fact, this year of all years it's been a bittersweet personal moment for me after all the younger years feelings for De and his iconic role among roles... then meeting him as a fan, and then meeting him as a colleague—though for all too short a time.

And now, to know him as an item of research of sorts: playing McCoy, on short notice, in the debut full episode of Star Trek Continues, as I tweeted and Facebook'd a couple days ago on the run.  It's a labor of love that must also be real work, fitted in on a month's notice amid other new cramped deadlines—though I'd like to think I've been doing the research by osmosis all along.

So it's not only a belated birthday wish—but one made on the road, to boot. Even so, I wanted to share a photo—and this one, a Trek topic from the second season, will bear special meaning, as I'll share eventually: ...and my big thanks to trekcore.com for being the online site that had it handy where I could find it on short notice!

Happy birthday, De—I hope somewhere, somehow, you know why I'm late...and accept it as a gift in spirit.