So, today is my birthday.

At 12:51 this afternoon, I turned 33. As I await my birthday cupcakes and my accompanying husband, I am reflecting on the truly remarkable changes that have occurred in my life in a single year. I think of the whole multi-universe postulate of quantum theory…the one that there are limitless possibilities all living within parallel universes. I could be experiencing any of them…and I believe this, is indeed, the best of all possible worlds. I have a content, sweet, beautiful daughter; a truly excellent husband; I love my inlaws like they were handpicked to step in when my parents passed away; I have a job I love, a home that is comfortable, and the company of great friends. I don’t want anything for my birthday…except the continued blessings that are already in my life.

It could have all gone so differently. Everyone in my side of the family struggles so much…financially, emotionally, and physically. I am the only one with a college degree; the only one who decided that the way I grew up was not where I wanted to go as an adult. Contrary to them, I decided the struggle of working full time while getting my education was easier than struggling for a lifetime without one. They don’t feel like they have the luxury of thinking about next week when they barely get by day to day. My brother has had cancer six times and is paralyzed and confined to bed…and he’s only 40 years old. God doesn’t have to rain blessings down into my life…he just has. Maybe it’s my angels, particularly my mother, whom I really believe surrounds me wherever I am, and guides me in this life. Either way, when I kiss Gillian’s sleeping head I honor all these beautiful things with a few minutes of prayer-giving thanks for the things that are somehow in my plane of experience, and praying for the health and wellbeing of my family. Being grateful for these gifts, I have found, keeps you humble, and humility keeps you completely present.

I could have ended up anywhere, and here I am, with no answer when Sean asked “what do you want for your birthday?” What a great day.