Milestones

This past week we had the opportunity to celebrate a milestone in my wife’s life.  Yes, it was her birthday!  In our house / family, we like to celebrate our birthdays, if for no other reason that this important day was the day that we came into being!  Therefore, it is a special day.  However, we all know some people that are happier to let their birthdays pass by under the guise that they feel that all it signifies is that they are another year older and another day closer to the end.  I personally have always wanted to strive to make it to my 100^th birthday (with my faculties intact), which means that each year is a celebration not only for the day that I came into this world, but another day closer to my goal!

Our birthdays are key milestones in our lives (especially if we reach specific numbers), but we all have other milestones that we should celebrate, such as anniversaries, births of our children (counts as a double celebration), graduations, etc.  While we celebrated Debbie’s birthday this week, I realized that this was not the only significant event of this past week.  As it ends up, I met Debbie the day after her birthday.  Mutual friends introduced us, which the wife of this couple did give me the line, “Have I got a girl for you.”  Initially, Debbie and I spoke on the phone, and then I decided to stop by where she was working.  I figured that I was coming home from playing softball on my company’s team, and the uniform might impress her.  Of course, there was no reason for her to know that I had no athletic abilities…yet.  We decided to meet after work…and as they say, the rest was history.

One of Webster’s definitions of milestone is “an important point in the progress or development of something: a very important event or advance.”  The day we met went by very quietly.  Sometimes, we do not always recognize a milestone, as they are not a day with a lot of fanfare.  Sometimes, we need to reflect on our lives to be able to identify these important events in our lives.  People have asked how we met, or how we knew we were meant for each other.  However, nobody asks the more important question – when did you meet?  I went from a young, single man without too many cares in the world, to finding somebody that would cause me to want to make myself strive to be better; someone that I would want to be proud of me; someone that I could care for, have a family, share my life with and love “until death do we part.”  That day is a major milestone in my life.  Having been blessed with finding someone that is special was truly a gift in my life.  Moreover, I am glad that it comes the day after my wife’s birthday, so that I can celebrate her birthday, every year, and the following day, be thankful for meeting her those years ago.  Happy birthday, Debbie, and may you have many, many more wonderful milestones to celebrate in your life.