A Moment

Today is Braden's birthday.  He is 3 years old.

I'm not going to bore you with a photo montage of his last three years, or share a letter I wrote to him professing my love and admiration.  No, that's for just Braden and I.

But I will say this.

I have found that there are so few moments in life that are truly remarkable.  Instead, day to day life is made up of tasks, obligations, and arbitrary traditions that seem important at the time.

We spend our time networking, climbing the corporate ladder, returning voicemails, and meeting deadlines.

We keep up with doctors appointments and meals and playdates and birthday parties.

We try to find time to sleep.

We plan, anticipate, and reflect on vacations that come and go.

We manage 529s and 401ks and refinance our mortgage and build up an emergency fund.

We DVR our favorite shows and go to movies and read trashy magazines. 

We wish for houses we can't afford. 

We diet, we exercise, we eat out, we clean, we save, we plan ahead.

We go through the requisite cultural milestones - weddings and showers and graduations and Thanksgiving dinners - that never seem to meet idealized, perfected expectations. 

We do stuff that is important, necessary, and at times enjoyable, but at the end of the day, it's not real.

This stuff is not what will flash before your eyes as you depart this life. It's not what makes you feel alive while you are still in it.

You know what is real? 

This:

9/5/08 - Mommy and Braden meet. This is a moment.

And it was, and still is, so much better than I ever expected.

I love you, my baby boy.  Thank you for so many remarkable moments.

Happy, happy birthday.