Saturday Michael will be twenty-seven. I can't quite figure out what the big deal about twenty-seven is to me, but it seems like a monumental age. Like the age of a grown-up. He'll have had twenty-seven birthdays...almost an entire month's worth. And this will be the ninth we've spent together. Sometimes, as birthdays approach, I get a little mournful of the fact that I’m not really a person of grand gesture. I’ll probably never have the money, time, or general wherewithal to surprise him with a new boat or vacation…or anyone else I love dearly for that matter. I do think birthdays are an important reason to celebrate someone in an extra special way, but somewhere during these past nine years, our birthdays have become just another day nestled almost unrecognizably into the same-old, same-old of our every day.
But when I really think about the way we’ve built our lives around these same-old, same-old days, I find that what we do have really is something grand and spectacular and worthy. Something so much more than the greatest gift I could ever think up to give anyone. In the past nine years, we’ve built something so special, so perfectly made out of us, that even our bad days seem very, very good. We’ve built a life that doesn’t place too much stock in looking forward to the special occasions, big events, vacations, and weekends of life, instead putting our focus into being aware and present and gracious about today. Last night, our family gathered for dinner…taco soup and slice and bake cookies, nothing fancy…and we enjoyed one another, played with the baby, watched TV together, and shared stories about our days. It was not much different than what we will probably do again a couple of times next week. But it felt so nice and whole and perfect to be celebrating Michael in that way…in that same way we go about our normal lives, making sure that every day that we can do it, birthday or not, we make the most of one another.
In the coming days, there will be razorback games, and more birthdays, and fishing tournaments, and girl’s days, and comforting fall dinners, and somewhere in there, a new little person will join our lives. These special things will be mixed in, of course, with bad days, arguments, stress from work, worries, and everything else that makes life hard. But, through those things, we will hold on to one another for support and dwell in the good…in the special moments that we are able to create and sustain so often. Because that’s just how we do it. It is a good life. It is a full life, and I am so thankful for it.
And I’m also thankful for my husband. I am so thankful for how we love one another. I am thankful for this life we are making together. It isn’t hard to live a happy life when we have a little person like Chase running around us all the time making things so joyful and exciting. It’s even easier when we get to anticipate the excitement and fun and overwhelming love of being able to add another person to this mix in a few short weeks. But all the words and metaphors and emotional ramblings in every language in the world will never be able to express how truly blessed I feel to share with him what is at the center of all of that…a relationship that is solid and rich and pure. And good...good in every sense of the word. I love you, Michael Gross. Thanks for sharing this life with me. Happy Birthday, you old grown-up man.
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