Rethinking Mondays

For as long as I can remember, people have grumbled the phrase, "I hate Mondays". I myself, have said those 3 words often. I would say that out of all of the days of the week, Monday is the day that people sneer at the most. If Monday were a person, Monday would be the one sitting alone in the high school cafeteria. Even one of my most beloved cartoon characters of all time could be found declaring his hatred of Mondays in the Sunday comics.

However, I have come to realize that I should love Mondays. Yes, I said "love". I have unfairly hated Mondays for far too long. In all actuality, it was a Monday that would be the starting point of a wonderful story. A story written far before Mondays were even named on the calendar.

On Monday, February 23, 1976, a baby boy was born into this crazy world. The beginning of a story, the first breath of a journey. Another miracle of God placed on this earth. A boy that would make a girl (who wouldn't be born for nearly 3 more years) one of the luckiest girls in the world!

Since that day, that wonderful Monday, 37 years have passed. And I am lucky enough to have shared 18 of those years with that boy. Sure...he is now a man, but he still has so much of that boyish charm that I fell in love with all those years ago. We still giggle and act like teenagers at times. We have also grown so much together. While our story together isn't how a lot of people (myself included) thought it would be, I believe it has happened just as God intended.

A lot has happened in those 18 years, but I am so happy that God chose me to share those moments of the journey with him. And through us, 2 other stories began with the birth of our children. With that, I'd like to say to my husband:

Every day with you is a gift. I. Am. Blessed. I know that your birthday is supposed to be about you, but I can't help but feel like I am the special one. Honestly, I am special because I am the one who gets to spend your birthday with YOU! And I pray that God gives us many more birthdays to spend together. We already have so many amazing memories together! I can only imagine how many more great memories we will make in next 50+ years. While it is easy for me to daydream about what our future has in store for us, I don't want it to get here too quickly. I want to take the time to enjoy each and every day that we have together. We know where our stories began and then merged, but we never know when either of our stories will end. All we can do is make sure that each day in between is filled with love. Thank you for always being a gift to me!

Happy birthday, Joey. I will always & forever love you.

Ruby Falls in Tennessee