🎂 Happy Birthday!
You're 40. That's crazy! And awesome. And beautiful. And wonderful. Welcome to the club.
I wanted to write you a little something to help you celebrate coming this far. Something that reminded you of who you are and where you've been. It can be easy to forget that when you're in the slog, dealing with small people who have loud, urgent needs.
Of course, these small people with needs are such a huge part of your life. They become part of your identity, a badge of honor. You're proud of them and who they are and the work you did to get them there. You sacrifice yourself over and over for them.
For you, of course, it's an even bigger part of your identity than some. You had them naturally, at home. Your badge of honor is maybe a little shinier, a little bigger. You wear it proudly (but not too proudly, of course, you were taught better than that) and I do too. Sharing wins and losses is one of my favorite parts of being married.
As wonderful as these people are and as big of a part as they play in your life now, they are only a part of who you are, one piece of the puzzle. They benefit from the stability and wisdom and life lessons you've accumulated but they weren't there for the journey that got you here. The battles and the victories, the ups and downs, and everything in between.
Celebrating who you are and how far you've come would not be complete without your kids. This was an important goal for you since I met you. You are, of course, the reason that I got to be a dad and explore this wild, wonderful, painful, beautiful part of being a human. Even before I wanted kids, I wanted to see you as a mom.
As I was thinking about all of this and looking through these photos and experiencing all these moments again, I thought about the conversations we've been having lately about values and how we want to live our life. I thought about the things that you try to teach our kids and where those came from.