Today I celebrate my 38th year, with creaking joints and sore muscles.  I celebrate by working a crappy office job that makes me wish I had paid more attention in high school and gone to college out of high school instead of 7 years later.  I celebrate by teaching students eager to learn and others who don’t participate or even understand their fortune for being able to sit in a class and receive an education (that they are paying for).  I celebrate by going to class and having my mind scrambled with t-test and z-scores, reliability and validity, sample size and standard deviations.  I celebrate by spending money on a new car further reminding me that at 38, I am no where near where I want to be but have everything I have ever wanted and how those two ideas are not related.

I celebrate by thinking about my amazing husband who after all of these years of me being in school and a bit of a bottomless pit of debt (student loans) loves me completely and made me my favorite cake–that he remembered from years ago.  I celebrate with my kids who tell me they love me and hug me and sing to me “happy birthday.”  I celebrate by being thankful and remembering that I am lucky and blessed beyond belief.  I celebrate by knowing there isn’t a debtors prison system anymore.

I celebrate by being the best I can be and accepting that it often isn’t as I wish it could be.  I celebrate by making the tough choices and by doing what I can.

Thank you mom and dad for being reckless teens and thank you grandma and grandpa for making them get married so that I could be here and that I could have the life I do. Without them…I am not.