I love a birthday because it is a time set apart to think about just one person and what they have meant in your life. Even if there isn't a gift exchange, nice dinner, party, cake... it's still a time for quiet celebration and appreciation.
So it's your birthday. I'm celebrating all day (even though I think about you all day, every day anyway). Today the thoughts are a little more specific. My boy, you are my favorite gift. You have made such an impact on my life that I will forever be affected. That's not a bad thing. I love the effect you have on me.
You make me feel magical. The world seems so bright and wonderful, so brimming full of beautiful and amazing things, because of you. I am more interested in the offerings of this world and its inhabitants because of you.
I love other people more and deeper, because of you. Loving you multiplies the love I'm able to share with others. It's as if when I met you a faucet was turned on inside my heart and it's ever been running. I'm so full and overflowing with love for you that I have all this extra to share. An infinite supply.
I want to be my best self for you and because of you. I fall short (all the time), but you make it okay. You help me develop confidence in myself. Somehow, you see so much more in me than I have ever been able to see in myself. Being around you helps me see it and helps me not to despair when I don't. You see me the way my Father sees me. He must help you to overlook all the bad stuff I see in myself. You are so wonderful for this. Truly, no one has every treated me with such kindness and patience as you do.
So we have made poor choices, or at least one, and suffer some consequences because of it, but typically I feel like scoffing at the word "trial". What's a trial when you love and are loved? It seems silly to complain when I have all that I could ever dream of in you. Yes, it would be nice to have something magnificent to offer to our children, but as far as my desires go, I am satisfied if all I have is you and the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Today I'm celebrating your life because it has made my life something worth smiling about. Every year, I feel like I should send your mom a thank you card on your birthday. Maybe I will next year. Because in giving you life, she has given me my best friend, my best supporter, a good example, my favorite adventure, the father of my children, my biggest smile. My gratitude for your life and for what you are to me couldn't possibly grow because it exceeds my ability to express it. That's what I usually think, but then it does grow.
Happy Birthday to Patrick the Boy, my boy.
With All of My Overflowing Heart,
Your Lady
