I’m Lucky Russ was Born
Posted: October 2, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized 1 Comment 
On this day fifty-one years ago at Fort Dix, New Jersey, baby Russ Lange came into the world. Little did I know as a much older woman, at three and a half, on this same day, where I was probably at nursery school in the church basement in Dayton, Ohio, that someday I would meet him.
While I was growing up in Connecticut, Russ was in Buck’s County, PA delivering newspapers, mowing lawns and attending school with the same twenty kids who were tracked together for their superior brains. They all wondered why Russ did not invite them to his Bar Mitzvah. It never dawned on them that he was not Jewish. When he was thirteen I was seventeen and leading the chapel services at boarding school with no idea that one day he and I would stand up in church together.
Russ went to college at Drexel University and while he was a new Freshman I was an experienced Senior at Dickinson College. He had his head down in his engineering books while I was doing my best to get college credit for classes I made up and ran myself. I could have used his brilliance to help me through college, but as of yet I had not met him.
Eight years later while I was demonstrating a new System 100 mail opening and extracting machine to a large group of visitors at the OPEX, Corp. grand opening celebration I did not notice the tall electrical engineer in the back of the room who was responsible for that very machine. Lucky for me he liked the way I could bring mail opening to life.
Two years after he came to work at OPEX he finally got up the courage to ask me out and ten days later to ask me to marry him. Little did I know all the great things he would bring to my life. Everything about Russ was different from what I knew and visa versa. Somehow the differences have melded into an exciting life.
So happy birthday Russ Lange! You are by far the best thing to happen to me and because of you we got Carter. I am forever thankful for your love, generosity, patience and sense of humor. I know I am lucky you took a chance on this crazy lady.
Less Dana, More Good 
This is a wonderful letter to us all, Dana. I tried to respond yesterday, but I was using a phone instead of computer and I am not sure my message went though. So, if this is a repeat, I apologize. My message is this: I think you and Carter are wonderfully blessed to have Russ in your lives. I also could not help but think, as I was reading this, that Russ is probably equally blessed to have you in his life.