I just had a birthday

but they say it’s been a year

so I am here

standing strong

a thumbs up and a cheer.

Fifteen years ago, I wrote an entry in my journal about turning 45. Soon afterward, I copied the pages and turned it into a piece of art. I painted a journal (the image is flat) then made it three-dimensional by coating a separate piece of card stock with gesso. I glued it so it would protrude from the canvas.

In the original journal, I wrote how, inside, I was the same person who played guitar at sunsets, had intimate conversations with perfect strangers, and questioned everything about life.

Today, I have more answers. But I will always question.

What I positively know to be true is this–a line from a song:

“To love another person is to see the face of God.”

I have seen His/Her face many times.

And for that, I am forever grateful.

And, as my 28 year-old son once said at the age of two,

“It’s not time to go home. It’s time to dance!”

And he said this when no music was playing. A lesson to live by.