H A P P Y 4 0 th B I R T H D A Y !
“He’s more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same.”
— Emily Brontë
I confess that it’s hard to come up with words auspicious enough to commemorate a milestone birthday when each day feels red-letter, each one a new favorite, each one a fresh anniversary of life and love. Brontë captures my understanding of a soulmate, and with respects to Margaret Atwood, the presence of him whom my soul loves is like “air that inhabits you for a moment only … that unnoticed and that necessary.”
I opened up my phone’s camera roll for this milestone birthday and saw so many captured moments that are milestones in themselves: not just the date nights, holidays, or cross-country road trips but even the gazes I steal across the kitchen counter when I see him at the other end of it deep in thought, reading. Or when I accidentally flip my camera into selfie-mode during church and he leans over silently to make a goofy face. Or when he’s shaving for the second time that day to make his face more kissable (in his own words). Or when we had our first harvest from our first garden and held it up for display or found his elementary school art projects. Or when we hold hands in prayer and I fight tears because I see a physical symbol of the way God has us moving forward.
Each one is God giving the surprise and joy of a lifetime day after day after day.
When a best friendship becomes the first day of the rest of your life, choosing words or photos to represent the pinnacle of that experience proves…impossible. So here’s Mark and I on a windy evening in Alaska, having the time of our lives not because we’re in Alaska but because we’re together.
This day is so unlike and yet just like all the others: the same, the best, my favorite. I know this decade will be the best yet. For both of us.