Another important rule for the Birthday Book — Read carefully what the person has written, right after they sign it.
Why????
Here’s why! Driving through West Virginia, which being from California was an unusual thing for me, we stopped at a rest area. A young man worked the cash register at the convenience store. 
Being new to West Virginia, he looked, to me, what someone from West Virginia should look like. When his customers were gone, I introduced myself as being from California, and asked him if he was from West Virginia. He told me he had lived there his whole life. After telling him about my Birthday Book, he gladly signed his name. When I got in the car to leave, I looked at his signature just in time. 
The problem was, we could not figure it out.
What did it say? Did it mean retired? Did it say “real”? What do you think he wrote there?
Realizing I would probably never see him again, I had to go back inside and ask him what he wrote. He smiled, he didn’t say anything, but rolled up his sleeve and showed me his arm. 
Then he proceeded to tell me a little bit about his family and how his grandfather always called him Red. I thanked him, left, turned and waved, smiled and said, “Bye Red”. We connected. Red will always be a pleasant memory, for me, of being in West Virginia.