Happy Happy Birthday

Who is there? Me.

Me who? I am me, you are you.

But you take my pronoun,

And we are us.

-Marichiko-

Today Mike turned 31 big ones! What a day, what a day… A year ago today he was in Officer Candidate School getting the snot beat out of him by one bad ass marine drill instructor. We were living on Jamestown Island. Literally a stones throw from the school. The kids and I dressed up in our warmest coats, made our way down to the waters edge, and stared across. A bridge unites Newport and Jamestown Island. For most people it was a way to get from one side to the other. For us, it symbolized connection. We could see the base where he was and if we craned our necks just right, even the building that he was in. I stood there while Ronin climbed onto his thinking rock and Rhiannon collected shells, and I sent him all the hope, and courage, and love that I could muster.

Birthdays are about beginnings. We come into this world nakedly full of innocence, purity and light. Bathed in nothing but our parents’ love and a good dose of amniotic fluid. The years pass and we come into who we are. It’s messy, it’s painful, and quite frankly I wouldn’t be 13 again if someone paid me.  Each moment, even the zit filled prepubescent ones, we are evolving and flourishing into something (hopefully better) than we were before.  We find lovers and partners and if we’re lucky we discover that things become less about ourselves and more about the synergistic energy that the two partners can create.

So happy birthday to the person who is chamomile tea to my espresso personality, to the person who is always willing to share a bowl of popcorn and a cheesy Scy Fy movie, to the dad who takes crotch shots when Ronin practices his Tae Kwan  Do moves, and will surf with his daughter because I’m terrified to. Happy birthday to the man who swore that I would love Tom Waits if I listened to him long enough and yes indeedy ten years later he’s right. To the one who said that I would chicken out of getting my nosed pierced and just to prove him wrong I did. For the one who always cheers me on in the last miles when I just want to quit. To the man that I am happy to be an “us” with, Happy Birthday babe.