Dear Amy,
It is morning, maybe 7:26 a.m. on Sunday morning. You live in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Mary is still sleeping, Santi is at the table playing with homemade play-do, and Dzanna is changing Zadie's wet cloth diaper—which reminds me, Santi should go sit on the potty.
Today, we are celebrating your birthday. 42 great years on the planet. This isn't the season where this will be a windy, flowing email. This window may be short, so you should get to the point. What does your best self have to say to you as you mark this milestone?
1. Embrace what is. You created little creatures out of thin air, two adorable, bright, loving human beings with whom you will roam the planet for the next fifty years—longer than you have been alive. After looking through Santi and Zadie's baby pictures today, you continue to think you may have another. Seems impossible to know this morning. But today, you celebrate 42 years, at home, with your children, with Mary, and with your fun neighbors: Nora, Zizo, Hannah, and Leo (with whom you also share a birthday).
2. Live in gratitude with Mary, this woman who also fell out of the sky to help you shepherd Zadie into the universe, who cared for you as you grew and grew to 228 pounds, taking you on walks each day, and splitting desserts with you so you didn't eat each one your self. Who was standing by your side at the pharmacy when your water broke in your favorite size 18, elastic band pregnancy pants, who held your arm, and took the famous video during delivery, and capably protected and defended Zadie for the first four hours of her life in the NICU. She moved to Kazakhstan with you, is making you homemade pasta, pasta sauce and molten lava cake and helping you continue this Lovejoy family tradition of dressing up for your birthday.
3. Love your beautiful body—its strength to take your running five miles each weekend, its inner wisdom of these 67 pregnancy pounds, the power in your biceps as you power through 30 chattarangas many mornings, its ability open and receive touch of all kinds, and how sexy you look in a dress.
4. You are home. This is where you live, this is your kitchen table, these red and blue Indian placemats greet you each morning, and the two high chairs that flank the short ends of the wooden table that you borrowed from friends. Your Pakistani rugs are on the floor, your Turkish backgammon sets in the cabinet. The gurus are on the blue ashram wall, you have a beautiful bedroom comforter with an altar that celebrates the journey you and Mary have been taking for 18 months. The fridge is stocked with summer salads, each cabinet, drawer, and corner is well organized and more zen than anywhere else you live. You have the space and possibility to live into that home mantra of Only keep that which gives you joy.
5. You are the boss. You are ascending and thriving at work, teaching ten people to work strategically, to communicate effectively, to work hard. You have planted yourself at this last stop on planet earth and are embarking on a month of regional travel to build relationships with the men and women you will support for likely four years. This year, your staff retreat is on the Enneagram and in English, next year, it will likely be in Russian.
6. Your good habits, writing, yoga, meditation await your attention. This has been six months of setting up a life, living with Mary, and starting a new job. It has been a good break, from what you know, after your long holiday, you will dive into these wells once again. You will give birth to Yoga Almaty.
7. The daily blog, the Ojai circle, and your sacred friends from childhood continue to connect you to treasured souls with whom you roam the planet—your kindred spirits. You have dear, life long friends to mark today with. A richer beyond all measure. Building your time home around seeing them is wise.
8. You are waking up, as is everyone else around you. Trust this process.
9. You are an excellent mother. You take care of yourself, and your kids. They love your touch, they intimately know the taste of your milk, and the smell of your skin. They are confident bundles of joy—even with their perpetual runny noses.
10. Family matters. Spending 13 days on Neebish with Grandma Doris, Grandma Karin, Julie and her kids is the perfect place to invest your free time.
I love you more than words can describe,
Amy
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