The Day You Began
My sister wrote this for my birthday today, and it made my heart so happy I wanted to share it here.
The Day You Began
Birthday[burth-dey]
Noun.
The anniversary of the day on which a person was born; the day when something began.
4 years 6 months and 18 days before I was born, you came into this world naked, vulnerable, scrunchy-faced and screaming. While I don't know your birth story (how many hours were spent in labor, was it a textbook delivery, what kind of humorous goings on happened in the moments before and after), what I do know is this: August 2nd was the day you began.
The moment you drew your first breath, the universe was already paving the way for you. Everything from the people you would meet, to the mistakes you would make, to the love you would encounter. Your first ear piercing scream was your announcement that you had entered the world, and that you would be a force to be reckoned with.
Birthdays become milestones, which in itself is not a negative thing, but as you get older those milestones become further apart, and therein lies the problem. When you get to a certain age in adulthood, birthdays are no longer celebrated with the same enthusiasm as they once were, and many people lose sight of exactly what that day means. In fact, there are a great number of people who would rather not celebrate their birthday at all, because it's simply "just another day".
Every day is a new beginning, a chance to start over, a chance to undo or forget yesterdays mistakes. It's an opportunity to make a choice, a new moment to make memories, to be better than you were when you went to sleep the night before. But your birthday is one day out of the entire year where you are celebrated simply for being alive. A day to celebrate something you had no control over, yet it is marked as a day in history that can and should be celebrated year after year.
Every year on my birthday I pat myself on the back and jokingly whisper "congratulations on surviving another year", but this is the wrong mindset. It should be a joyous, emphatic celebration of everything you are, everything you've done, and you should stand tall and be proud.
Birthdays become milestones, which in itself is not a negative thing, but as you get older those milestones become further apart, and therein lies the problem. When you get to a certain age in adulthood, birthdays are no longer celebrated with the same enthusiasm as they once were, and many people lose sight of exactly what that day means. In fact, there are a great number of people who would rather not celebrate their birthday at all, because it's simply "just another day".
Every day is a new beginning, a chance to start over, a chance to undo or forget yesterdays mistakes. It's an opportunity to make a choice, a new moment to make memories, to be better than you were when you went to sleep the night before. But your birthday is one day out of the entire year where you are celebrated simply for being alive. A day to celebrate something you had no control over, yet it is marked as a day in history that can and should be celebrated year after year.
Every year on my birthday I pat myself on the back and jokingly whisper "congratulations on surviving another year", but this is the wrong mindset. It should be a joyous, emphatic celebration of everything you are, everything you've done, and you should stand tall and be proud.
This year, these are the things I celebrate about you on your birthday:
I celebrate the fact that you are my older sister. Not having one closer to my age growing up makes me appreciate it that much more as an adult. Someone I can confide in, someone who can listen without judgment and provide counsel based on experience.
I celebrate your attention to detail. I'm encouraged that I'm not the only one with a touch of OCD, and that someone can relate to my obsession to organization.
I celebrate your strength and determination. You can never know just how truly grateful I am to you for not giving up, for the sacrifices you made to even yourself in finding us.
I celebrate your character. I know it wasn't easy, and there were times when you may have questioned your decision, but the fact that you were so accepting of all our family had to offer you is incredible.
I celebrate you as a wife and mother. You provide love, strength, encouragement, empathy, and stability to your husband. You raise your children in the very best way you know how, you instill virtues into their lives and love them unconditionally despite whatever obstacles you may face.
I celebrate your sense of humor and your interests. Much like my own, they give a daily dose of relief from the outside world; a place of solace when it's needed, and although some of the things you enjoy seem just out of reach now, your time will come and you'll be able to "live" again.
I celebrate the parts of you I've yet to learn. I'm grateful for the opportunity to get to know more and more about you every day. I cherish that knowledge and use it to piece together the person you were before I knew you.
I celebrate the day you were born, the day your life began, a day when the world stood still for just a moment in time as your presence reverberated across the galaxies and announced your greatness.
I celebrate your attention to detail. I'm encouraged that I'm not the only one with a touch of OCD, and that someone can relate to my obsession to organization.
I celebrate your strength and determination. You can never know just how truly grateful I am to you for not giving up, for the sacrifices you made to even yourself in finding us.
I celebrate your character. I know it wasn't easy, and there were times when you may have questioned your decision, but the fact that you were so accepting of all our family had to offer you is incredible.
I celebrate you as a wife and mother. You provide love, strength, encouragement, empathy, and stability to your husband. You raise your children in the very best way you know how, you instill virtues into their lives and love them unconditionally despite whatever obstacles you may face.
I celebrate your sense of humor and your interests. Much like my own, they give a daily dose of relief from the outside world; a place of solace when it's needed, and although some of the things you enjoy seem just out of reach now, your time will come and you'll be able to "live" again.
I celebrate the parts of you I've yet to learn. I'm grateful for the opportunity to get to know more and more about you every day. I cherish that knowledge and use it to piece together the person you were before I knew you.
I celebrate the day you were born, the day your life began, a day when the world stood still for just a moment in time as your presence reverberated across the galaxies and announced your greatness.
You are a daughter, a sister, an aunt, a niece, a cousin, a wife, a mother and a friend. You are a reflection of the decisions you've made, and an unsculpted vessel of who you will be after this day. Every day is worth celebrating life, but today I celebrate your beginning.
I love you, Sis.
Written by: Kristina Wood
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