"Turning 30 "
I turn 30 this Friday. In light of recent events, I have cancelled my previously announced party in Las Vegas. It's not the right time to ask friends and family to travel. And it's not the right time for a big drunken celebration. I hope we can all get together and tear it up later.
But right now I'm still wrestling with recent events. I don't think I'll forget this birthday. I can't really describe the emotional controversy I'm dealing with. Relief and fear. Sadness and patriotism. Anger and compassion. Loneliness and solidarity. I am thrilled Michelle is OK, but after such an emotional week with her, I miss her terribly. It's a relief to be home, but I was really beginning to rediscover my roots in New England. I am enraged at this act of terror, and yet I am terrified of our response. It's making me take stock in what I have, in where I am, and what's important to me. And it's all just making me tired.
I think this year especially I have the some very real birthday wishes. Hopes and prayers I'd like answered for my 30th anniversary on the planet.
I pray for the families dealing with loss. For my friend Frank, the greatest guy you could know, facing a future without his son, and his three grandchildren who face a future without their father.
For the families of firefighters, the heroes who lost their lives doing the most dangerous and selfless job in the world - saving ours.
I pray for my brother. The kid brother with whom I used to create elaborate war games with GI Joe figures. He is a second lieutenant in the Marine Corp and is at this very moment playing a very different and very real war game in Virginia.
I wish for justice. And for our leaders, in the execution of that justice.
I empathize with the many people throughout the world who just want to go to work and raise their families and desperately dream of a day without war, who right now gaze terrified at the sky, wondering when and if bombs will come, all because of the evil, hateful acts of fanatics and zealots.
I hope in this my thirtieth year, for safety in my travels, and in yours. And despite all indications, for another year of prosperity and another year of peace.
Finally, I pray for the serenity that comes from knowing that this too will pass. That nothing is predictable and nothing lasts forever, not peace, not war. Life goes on. So will you and so will I. The best we can do is live completely, accept every adversity and every opportunity, cherish every day and every year. Whether it's our first or our thirtieth.
