B(earth)day! Yeay!

Yaaaaaahoooooo!!!! YES!! YES!!! YES!!! It's my birthday!!! Yes it is!!! YIPPPPEEEEE!!!! Lücky dücky me!!! I am soooo very happy to report that this is indeed my most favorite birthday everrrr!!! Fo' shizzle. Today I am one year older than I was yesterday. ps: thanks mom and dad for bringing me into this world.

It's a quiet b-day this year for me and my hub-bub and I couldn't be more content. I can't tell you enough how very blessed I am. 

And what I know is this. There is a good and positive force in this universe. There is a loving and knowing presence in this universe and it is real. And true. And good. There is something higher than myself. Something higher than you. Something higher than all the rest of it. I know this. Because I know love. We are so blessed. In our pain we are blessed. In our debts (both literally and figuratively) we are blessed. In our fortunes and misfortunes. We are blessed. 

I look back on the past 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, years of my life and I marvel at the wonders I have witnessed. I marvel at my ability to take each day, one at a time. I amaze and dazzle myself with my ability to forge forward in the face of silent adversity. I confound myself with the exceptional hope and optimism I have been gifted with. I thank God everyday for the grace he has bestowed on me. 

But even more than all of this, I marvel at the mystical and magical humans who surround me. My circle of touch stones. My brilliant husband. My stalwart brother. My amazing mom and dad and my new mom and dad. My sweet sister in-law. My creative cousins, and their cousins, and my husband's cousins. Aunts, Uncles, Grandparents from both sides. My coworkers... My brilliant friends. Joey. Pedro. Carlie. Meemo. Marilyn. And all the rest of y'all... Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art... It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value to survival. 

Who am I to be blessed with such fortune? Who am I to deserve such love? Such acceptance. Such compassion? Who am I? or rather, Who am I not to be? All of us. Each of us. Deserve all of the blessings we have and then some. I challenge you to remember this. I challenge you to know... to witness... to be present. On this earth day... as I will today- on my birthday. 

Know love. This is one of the miracles of love: It gives a power of seeing through its own enchantments and yet not being disenchanted.

XoxooXOXO - <3> Üdo