Birthday Wishes

So its my birthday.  Here's a picture of me, in case you forgot what I look like.  It was me, headed up to Park City with Scott last spring or so.  Behind the wheel, as I usually am!

My birthday started out early with a 5 am Starbucks comfort run on the way to Araceli's cello lesson.  Cello was an invigorating way to start the day!  I love sitting there taking notes, listening to Ari progress, ensconced in the lovely tones of the cello and the pervasive coffee smell of the cozy studio.  Elliott's cello sounds so ringy and healthy and alive, I think there must be something wrong with me,  I love the sound of it so much.

Now the kids are off to school, having left behind happy birthday notes and texts.  I love them all so much.  Scott is gone, too, but not before having supplied me with huge bouquets of flowers to add luster to the house I cleaned top to bottom yesterday.  The house is so clean, I might have to blow it up so nobody ruins it.

On my birthday, in the midst of my happiness, I am fully aware of all the sorrow, loneliness and suffering in the world.  Those aren't happy birthday thoughts, but if I had a birthday wish, it would be that I could bring comfort to someone.  I don't know how I would do that, but maybe some of you will have an opportunity today to lighten someone's load, ease a financial burden, take away the sting of loneliness, make someone useful and needed, let somebody know that they're not alone.

I asked all my kids to make a recording of a piece they're working on for me for my birthday, but what I really want more than that is for each one of them to go out into the world and notice somebody whose life might not be as easy as theirs, and lift them up.  I wish that today everyone in the world had a day free of worry and full of food, free of fear and full of friendship.  I'll try in some small way to create happiness, and I hope you can too.