Thanks For The Birthday

Who would've dreamed? Really, who would've dreamed?

Back when I was a kid spending my summers dawdling around MicroLeague Baseball on the computer and playing Whiffle Ball with Jack in the backyard, I'd hardly have been able to say with any certainty that I'd be husband material. Yet here I am, seventeen years married to a woman who's caring and smart and attractive and endlessly hard working.

It would've been tricky to guess that somewhere in my mid-teens I'd devote myself to school in a way that would eventually lead to a great career and early retirement.

I could've anticipated that I'd end up a teacher. Jack's quick to point out how I tutored him in reading at a young age, and he turned out to be a big-time reader and writer. Imagine if I'd tutored him in math?

Mom might never have predicted that I'd end up in music and theater, as her two jock sons spent day after day circling the bases, shooting jumpers or doing the same video-game style.

Would my parents have thought that the kid who was mostly terrifyingly shy of adults would end up graduating from a leadership class, and then coming back to lead that class?

Or that I'd own a cat? As it so happens, with as much affection and playfulness and sweetness that someone could hope for?

God, Mom and Dad have given me a treasure of a life, naturally rich in resources and health. I'm blessed every day, thankful nearly as often.

Happy birthday indeed!