Birthday, I Turned 38

Today is the 38^th anniversary of my birth! A lot of great stuff happening lately and this message was shared with me by my mom. It's a story I've heard before, but perhaps not recorded here.

Ah yes I remember this day, a Saturday, Feb 21, so well, so many years ago. Dinner with Grandma Joy, Ruby, and your Dad. They got to eat salad, steak, and potatoes while I ate jello and timed contractions. At 8:00 pm, your Dad and I went to Christian Northwest Hospital and on Sunday morning at 5:30 you made your entrance into the world. You came in screaming loudly. Happy Birthday, Jimmy. I love you!

That's 5:30am for those that might have missed the detail. So let's see, that's nine and a half hours of labor? I guess if they went to the hospital at 8pm, it'd had started at some point earlier. Regardless, it all happened and I'm here and it's been 38 years since.

My dad actually started off my day by posting this picture.

Not bad, eh? I wonder what I'd say to myself if I could peel back the years and talk to the kid in the sideways cap. Good things are going to happen for you. Except some bad things are going to happen too and whether they all even out in the end depends greatly on your point of view. Well, that's not very helpful or overly wise. Advice? Encouragements? Admonitions? Warnings? I don't even know.

Many good things have happened this past year, but in sum total I have not been overly fond of ...life, to put it mildly. And I'm choosing not to go into the bad stuff here, for a multitude of reasons. Instead, I'll try and direct my mood a bit by writing a bit about the good stuff.

---

I'm extremely proud of my kids.

Reese continues to excel at high school. She was in "Dracula" a play at her school, which was a pretty big deal for a freshman. She got invited to attend a summer workshop thing at the film academy in New York that she'd like to attend for college. Like I was at her age, she's a smart socially awkward teenager, but she embraces it in a big way. She appears to know who she is and who she isn't and is comfortable with it. I recently heard one of the kids in the church youth group comment that she's one of the smartest in the group, and they all appreciate her for her randomness, comedy and variety.

Olivia is blossoming in a beautiful way. She embraces her art and stories. She's got a vivid imagination, is soft-spoken and caring. She's also still very interested in horses and spent a few weeks in Chicago helping at the stables there. She loves animals and if she had her way, we'd have about three or four more pets (beyond the dog Max).

Sammy is a rambunctious ball of wind and energy. He's doing well at pre-school and loves fun. And he has no filter. He'll come right up to you and tell you exactly what he's thinking, even if his descriptions make no sense. We've started keeping track of a few Sammyisms that I'll post here. Some are hilarious and some are scary with no context. Trust me when I say he says these without fear.

• If there were aliens here in space they would be dead.
• Do you know what even can float in space? Robots!
• Do you know what even can float in space? Bird and cats!
• Do you remember that cat? That cat that was in the street? And it was dead?
• I'm floating dead in space.
• I want to tell that cats floating through space dead with fire.
• Do you know what even can float in space? THE WHOLE PLANET!
• If our planet was a rocketship, we could even float in space.
• Do you know what even can float in space? A car floating in space.
• Do you know what even can float in space? Ranch with a car driving.
• I want you to sit with me because of the floating eyeball of death.

Wow. I don't ... I don't even know what to say about any of these. I'll try and keep a running list, updated with new ones as they come up.

What else? Lisa and I have been working to get our finances in a much better state of order. We got entered into a class with videos by Dave Ramsey called Financial Peace University, that despite all our bad habits has been really helpful and transformative. We are not going to be rich any time soon, but I can honestly say that we'll be less worried about money. Or perhaps it's more accurate to state that we will be worrying about money in a very different way. I'm actually surprised I haven't written about this previously? It seems hokey on the surface, but this has been a really big deal.

Okay, it is pretty late now and I've got an early morning. In a quick reread before I post this, I realize that I sound pretty depressed up higher on this page and perhaps I was laying it on a bit thick all things considered. Rather than revise, I'll leave this as is. Does it all balance out, this year and everything preceding? I'll refer to a quote I heard somewhere and have bastardized many times since then. I can't even find the original.

When life has got you down, just remember that it all evens out at the end. If it doesn't seem like it right now, just remember that it's not yet the end.

Simple. Happy birthday to me.