Life is a Dance

I celebrated my birthday this past weekend, on January 23rd. I've always loved that, 1/23/80. The birthdays in my family all seem to follow beautiful patterns, starting with my three sisters. We were all born on Wednesdays. In my immediate family, Jon's birthday is 7/9/79. Alexandra's is 1/22/2010. Thomas's is 3/4/12. Samantha's is 4/8/16. It feels like a dance.

I celebrated 41 years on Saturday. It feels like such a big number, but also, such a hopeful one. I have learned & loved & lived so much in the past 41 years. I'm beyond grateful to be alive, to be living this one precious & beautiful life today. I'm praying for at least 41 more years & I will celebrate each one full of joy & honor the accumulation of every year.

It really feels like a dance, though, because with each trip around the sun, I've grown & I've broken & I've rebuilt, again & again. There has been immense laughter & celebrating. There has been great sorrow & pain. I've waltzed in & out of the tremendous beauty in this world. I've been blessed with such awe & wonder. I'm forever grateful.

My birthday always feels extra special, because the year I turned 30, our daughter Alexandra was born the day before. She was my most favorite birthday gift I've ever received & we get to celebrate every year together now as we extend our birthdays to a big part of January.

We celebrated all week, starting in Beaver Creek, Colorado, skiing for a few days in the beautiful mountains. It was absolutely breathtaking. I'm pretty uneasy with heights, so chairlifts tend to be a bit frightening for me, but I used my yoga breathing & managed the heights okay. Also, I'm so thankful for the gondolas!

This year, I celebrate my family & my friends, our lives are so connected & I am feeling immense gratitude. 41 feels fantastic! Here's to many more years celebrating our lives, dancing & laughing together.

"We turn not older with years,

but newer every day."

~Emily Dickinson

"Every birthday is a gift.

Every day is a gift."

~Aretha Franklin

"For we are God's handiwork;

created in Christ Jesus

to do good works,

which God prepared in advance for us to do."

~Ephesians 2:10

"Life is the dancer & you are the dance."

~Eckhart Tolle

"We don't stop playing because we grow old;

we grow old because we stop playing."

~George Bernard Shaw

Beaver Creek, Colorado ⛷

Gombolas in a Gondola 😂 ♥️