Since My Last Birthday...

Tomorrow is my 29th birthday (Please hold your applause until the end).

For the last few days I've been in a reflective mood.  I'm not the type to mourn my twenties like some overdramatic people would.  Nor do I think that everything will change when I turn 30.  I'm not a huge birthday guy.  I don't feel a need to celebrate too wildly.  It's just a day changing on the calendar.  I have been thinking about how wonderful the last 365 days of my life has been.

When I write that I've been reflective, it's really about the larger picture that I'm now only a piece of. 

Since my last birthday, my entire life has changed.  My daughters were born.  They spent time in the NICU and came home for the first time.  They've learned so much since then.  They have filled our house with an incomprehensible amount of love.  Every single day is a new and wonderful experience with them in my life.

Since my last birthday, I decided to take a huge leap and leave the industry that I've worked in since my teen years.  I've thrown myself into a completely new line of work (and I'm still learning).  The comfort zone that I established is squarely in the rearview mirror at this point, but it is also exciting and exhilarating.  And I get to see my wife every day at work which is wonderful.

Since my last birthday, my sister moved back home after living in Ohio for almost a decade.  I forgot what it was like having her around because she's been gone so long.  She brought back a wonderful guy who fits right into our family.  As a result of her moving back, we've spent a lot of time with my family, and I've loved it.

Since my last birthday, both my sister and brother got married.  What's not to like about an ever-expanding family?  And it has continued to expand since my new sister-in-law got pregnant with the girls' first cousin.  It's so comforting to think about a cousin so close in age to them.

Since my last birthday, the Giants won the World Series.  Sorry I had to mention it one last time.

Since my last birthday, the birth of my daughters and my new role as dad has inspired me to start writing this blog.  Hopefully my daughters can look back and read some of things their dad wrote about them 29 years from now.

Birthdays are fun and great, but they aren't everything.  If your life was a book, your birthdays are just the chapters.  There isn't a book out there remembered for how many chapters it had.  The story within those chapters is the most important part of the book.  I've loved the story since my last birthday.  I hope the next chapter is just as great.

Cheers!!!