An Open (Birthday) Letter

Happiness,... not in another place but this place, not for another hour but this hour.

- Walt Whitman

This weekend marked my 27th birthday - another year of being me. It was such a great day!

I couldn't have asked for a better celebration. Really! (Well... hang on. Tyler Florence could have made it a little better. So could Luke Wilson. ;)

Anyway, my friends and I loaded up and headed to Jefferson, Texas. Omgosh... the fun! There was, in brief: a horse named Prince, the weirdest game of checkers ever (long story, right Lisa?), vanilla peanut butter fudge (yum!), a mishap with a lily pad, a brick, and a creaky old 1850s hotel that all played a part in the day. (See Lacy, I told you the Excelsior wasn't haunted!) I'll remember it forever! And for those who were there, I have only one word: cuckoo! cuckoo!

I couldn't ask for better friends. Nor would I. My house is old and ... needs help, but I love it. My family isn't perfect, but we are family. There's a lot of love there. Standing back and taking it all in on Saturday, I realized: I'm happy. Today. Here. Now. I am happy.

Seems like we always sit around waiting... waiting for payday or Friday or someday. We wait for those days to be happy, while this day - with all its hope and promise and blessings- ticks by....

We've all heard it - the old: "Count your life in smiles, not tears. Count your life in moments, not years." Well, I'm doing that. Starting this birthday.

Special thanks to all of you who were there to help with the smiling bit! You bless me more than you know! -B