Happy Birthday to Me!

And 31 has arrived, whether I wanted it to or not. That’s the thing about birthdays… as long as you are still alive, they are inevitable. I guess the only thing to do is embrace my 31’ness and love it. I am discovering that aging is not the easiest thing in the world, especially when you feel like you are not making the most of your life.

By some strange trick of fate or perhaps by providence, I found a letter my father wrote to me 11 years ago on my birthday. This is not a letter that I saved intentionally or even remembered, to be honest. After about 10 moves and 2 house fires, it’s a miracle that it still exists. It just so happened tonight that I decided to pull out some books of poetry and read through some of my favorites for inspiration. As I was reading through the Collected Early Poems of Adrienne Rich, I noticed a folded piece of paper, nothing special looking, just a ripped off sheet of a white legal pad. It is dated January 19, 1997, and this is what it says:

Dearest S,
I just can’t believe that you aren’t going to be a teenager anymore. It was just yesterday that I met your mother and gave her our first kiss. Now all of the sudden I’m wishing you a twentieth birthday. Well, so far you have made the best of your life. That’s important and I am very proud of you.
Today in Sunday School class P.W. was talking about life on earth. When you look up someone you usually find a date of birth and a date of death. It is hard to find anything else about most people. My greatest accomplishment is my children. That’s my pride and joy.
The weather has warmed up today. I actually went fishing for 30 minutes. No luck. I hope you are staying warm.
Well, Happy Birthday!!! You are a most beautiful young lady. I miss you and Love you.
Your
Dad

How beautiful that I found that letter today, and how strangely perfect. I am not certain whether he would still say I have “made the best of my life”,but I feel a renewed passion to make sure that 11 years from now, I will know that it is true.