It’s my birthday today. I have had kids hugging me, singing to me, and planning birthday cake baking and adventures for days. I don’t think anything has ever made me feel more loved than watching them celebrate me getting older. So many hugs and kisses!

I’ve noticed in the last few years that I am much more prone to tears of happiness. Thinking of the life I am living, a life I would never have expected in a million years on so many levels, makes me emotional. And I have never historically been a crier. It catches me offguard, like when I got teary on stage at my concert this year. I kept thinking about Granny Huck, and how she would’ve told me to get over it and enjoy the Baumgartner studio artists doing a phenomenal job in my stead for people who’ve been coming to this concert for years.

It’s starting to happen on birthdays too. I find all of the cheesy questions come to me and moments of reflection. How did I get this lucky? How long will this joy last? And right at the peak of this gratitude, when Dave’s lit the candles on the falling-apart but delicious cake I had to frost, and a boisterous and heartfelt “happy birthday” is ringing out, Sylvie threw up on the counter. So that’s how I find balance in this gorgeous and very real life of mine. In case you wonder.