Born Friday, January 14, 1972

There is no old age. There is, as there always was, just you. Carol Matthau, O Magazine, October 2003

Today, Friday, January 14, 2005 I turned 33. This is the magic time...The magic number...3. It is only divisible by itself and one. My birthday is a double magic number so I have two times the magic. This is my year this year. I can feel in my bones, echoing in my soul. This is a magical year 2005 and great things will be done by ordinary people. I already see the difference around my school, people are smiling more, laughing more, there is an optimism that plays on the winds around.

On Christmas day one of our professors step through the Vail from this world to the next, but he was not an invited guest, he forced his way in. He left behind the stunned, the shocked, the bewildered survivors and his art. He was a brilliant sculpture with much promise for the years to come...that lives on now in his students that he taught through his 12 years hear at USF. Even though he did this thing...this completion to death he spirit has not dampened the joy this year will bring. It is a year of healing...and if he only waited I believe he would have found that light at the end of the tunnel was not the train he supposed it would be.

My sons are doing new and wonderful things. They are growing into their own. My oldest, he is in the gifted program now. He has far exceeded the limits of his grade two class and his 7 year old world. I am proud of him, for he has not let the world stop him...not yet...and if I can help it, not for many more years, not until he is ready and equipped to push back at the world and succeed beyond it's wildest expectations. My youngest is the head of his class, and loves music, and life, and wonder. He is growing strong, and loved and confident, with the best parents in the world doing the best job ever. Thank you mom and dad for being mom and dad to a whole new generation.

God has blessed me with so much in my life, parents that showed me what life really was about, what really mattered in the long run, family that provides an never ending supply of intreag and comedy, friends...oh so many friends that love me, and understand me, and love me more inspite of the knowledge they have of me...and then, there are those people who pass through my days, some regularly, others sporadically, still others may once or twice, but each impacting me in one way or another for good. I am with age, understanding the text...God works in all things for the good of those who love Him. I also understand that he works in all things for good for all of us, if we would but recognize the good He longs to give us.

Lastly I want to tell you my rally cry for this year... it is simple, elegant and overwhelming profound... CHOOSE TO FEEL. This simple saying I think holds all the promises and dreams, and hopes of my life. That I embrace my life with passion and pour my soul into it and life in its infinite wisdom will love me right back.

Happy Birthday! Feliz Cumpleaños! Joyeux Anniversaire! Buon Compleanno! Happy 33rd!