Richard kept in touch with another phone call following his 60th birthday celebration on January 23rd.

He described his special day as "just brilliant!" He had spent the whole day with Wylie and his mom, and they had spent time just hanging out, relaxing, and playing with the dogs in the yard. Then they all went out to their favorite restaurant for a party orchestrated by Wylie. She had arranged for a chocolate dessert with a pure molten chocolate center, and all the employees came out to sing Happy Birthday. "It was a GREAT, WONDERFUL birthday!" he said. Then he added, "I don't feel 60!"

His birthday had begun in the morning with messages from fans when he opened a package of postcards that some fans had sent from countries all around the world. "Oh, God, it's just brilliant! Just wonderful!" he exclaimed. Many hundreds of additional messages had been left on the Fan Mail page, and ecards sent to acknowledge charitable donations had also been forwarded to him, but he admitted that he hadn't been online for almost a week. He added, "I do thank you for that!" and he promised to view them right away, just as soon as he got back online.

First, however, he needed to wrap up the phone call as kickoff time approached on a Sunday afternoon. The Minnesota native was preparing to watch the Vikings battle for the NFC title.