bon anniversaire

I like birthdays. A lot. I triple love love love them.  And why shouldn't I?  It's an occasion to celebrate!  It's one day out of the year when we think a little less about what we should do and more about what we really want.  Maybe it's selfish of me, but on my birthday I'm a little more likely to answer a phone call from an old friend, take the long way to work, accept a compliment, and linger over a nice dinner. Something in a birthday makes me feel as if each moment were a penny in my pocket.  I like to feel the weight of them all in my hands, hear the sound they make as they rub together.  These moments are waiting to be lived like my pennies are waiting to be tossed into fountains, each with a wish on my lips.  What if we grabbed on to every day this way - as if it were my birthday, and yours?  Would we celebrate each other with kind words and thoughtful gifts?  Would we splurge on dessert?  Would we wake up to realize that living, and truly living, is the best present we could have ever asked for - the opportunity to enjoy our beautiful world, to genuinely love all who dwell in it, to adventure into unknown territories, and to become the people we've always wanted to be?