A Day for Reflecting

It's hard to believe, but our extraordinary daughter is celebrating another birthday, the one that begins winding down her years in her thirties. It seems like only yesterday we were observing her tenth year of life and her first one with us in the United States.  What a long distance this women has journeyed! At ten she spoke no English, had just arrived to a new family, a strange culture, a new way of life. During the years since then she finished her schooling, paying for it through her years serving her country. In a short time she rose swiftly to the rank of sergeant, completed her undergraduate degree while in the service, and used her GI bill to fund her graduate work after she left the military. She found a satisfying job that she loves, married a caring and open-minded fellow sergeant, bringing into our lives the son we never had, and, in time, two beautiful and gifted grandchildren who keep us young and curious.

Birthdays are a marker to remind us of the swiftness of time, and days to pause and reflect on the direction of our life. They are also a time to look back with gratitude at all the wonders that have surrounded the past years. They are a time for thanksgiving, rejoicing, reflecting and promising, but not a time for regrets. Life is too short. We all have regrets, failures and broken promises in our past. That is what makes us human, and perhaps more understanding of others. Also, hopefully, those same failures can be turned into new directions and time spent more richly, simply and in the present moment.

So happy birthday, daughter. You are a joy! Thank you for being you and including your husband and children in our family. Each birthday is a gift to us.