Birthday thoughts

Yesterday was my birthday. It was a good day, but a quiet, thoughtful and sort of sad one. My mind and heart were heavy with thoughts of the Virgina Tech tragedy. It was a strong reminder of the Columbine shootings which took place in the same week as my birthday.At that time I was in college and I remember being so focused on the students. Imagining how scary, sad, and traumtizing it was for them. With the Virgina Tech events, I find myself at a different life stage and very focused on the parents. The shock, the grief, the anger, and the questions they are grappling with. It has also prompted me to think about the parents of young Marines and other service members who have also lost their children. Parents in Darfur. Parents of children in hospitals around the world at this very moment. I hug my children tight and I am grateful for every day I have with them. Noah was disappointed that I didn't have a big birthday party (instead he proudly announced to each table at our restaurant that it was my birthday), but I wasn't disappointed. It was the just right kind of birthday for this year...a reflective one, a small and quiet one with my children and my husband. We had tapioca pudding (made with love by Adam) instead of the standard birthday cake and I ended the day feeling grateful to be alive and grateful to have two beautiful healthy children, a loving husband, good friends and family all around the world. A birthday full of reminders. A reminder of the fragility of life, a reminder to live in the moment, and a reminder to reach out to others.