To Jared, on this birthday…

It’s been a long time since I’ve written a blog post and Jared has reminded me about it a dozen or so times. It’s the 24th of April and it seems like a good day to pen something and perfectly fitting since it’s Jared’s birthday. As usual, I wait until the night before his big day to break out his birthday card to begin writing (that is what I am doing now). We have this long-standing tradition of expressing how much we love and appreciate one another in writing on our birthdays. I always look forward to opening Jared’s handwritten card each year on my birthday telling me how much he adores me. It never gets old, unlike each year that passes which in turn, slowly ages us. We are all told that in a blink of an eye, our life is over. Birthdays have always put that phrase into an unnerving perspective for me. In what used to be another year closer to becoming an adult, has fast become another year closer to the other end of the life spectrum. What do we want to accomplish in the next year of life? In the next five? Do we have goals and steps to get there?

One thing I have come to learn (taught myself to learn) is to love without fear and to love without limits. I am blessed beyond belief to love a man who loves me tenfold in return and he shows it unabashedly each and every day. So for his birthday this year and every year I want him to know that I think about him at every moment of the day. I love waking up each morning and running to the TV to turn on News 2 so that I can see him once more. I adore the way he holds doors open for me and pulls chairs out for me to sit in restaurants and even when it’s just the two of us at home. I am amazed by his generosity and his thoughtfulness not just to me, but to so many others he encounters. I love that he cherishes each and every friendship he has and how he never takes them for granted. I love how he thanks each viewer that comes up to him for watching and I know he truly feels blessed. I am amazed how he welcomes my family into our home to visit for as long as they want. I cherish how he wants to take advantage of each moment we have together and to live life beyond the fullest in the small amounts that we share.

I have shined in his grace on some of my darkest days and have been lifted up in his support by a shield of encouragement and strength. In moments of winning, I have been electrified in his embrace and warmed by the exuberance of his pride. Jared has never withheld his love for me whether it has been a really bad day or a really good day for us or one of us individually. He is all that I have ever wanted and beyond anything I could have imagined. On this birthday of his, I want him to know that I am blessed beyond wonder and blessed beyond prayer that he is mine and that we share this life together. Each year that he turns older is a moment that I reflect of how far we come, how deeply we love and how happy I am to be with him. Jared, you are amazing. Happy birthday to the most handsome, brilliant, goofy, loving man that I am blessed to share my life with. I adore you. Happy Birthday!

P.s- He is a huge Orioles fan, so I guess I’ll say go O’s! (just today!) haha

xox