another year older

well, i'm another year older, if that's how you want to look at it.  i guess i often recognize that i'm getting older every day - every minute! - but these milestones don't seem to affect me too much, at least not in the "oh no, i'm getting so old" sense.  i turned 37, for crying out loud.  i'll have plenty of years to lament about getting old.  for now i'm too busy training for my 5k in two weeks.  old schmold. 

in any case, i had an awesome weekend.  while i wasn't able to be with my family, i was able to facetime them, and they were almost all there together, so it was almost like being with them.  and then, in addition, we had friends come and visit us - 14 in all! - and spend various parts of the weekend with us.  while i had a do a funeral for a dear man on saturday (my actual birthday), it was actually pretty cool to participate in a well-attended worship service celebrating resurrection on the day marking my own birth into this crazy world.  there was a very vivid sense both of my own mortality, and my own piercing hope in resurrection.  and so i celebrated.  with the opening of gifts.  with the playing of playlists.  with the blowing of candles.  with the eating of really good food (our friends took us to reba and pancho's) which was amazing.  and with the laughter that is characteristic of telling old stories, catching up on new ones, and creating new verses in the familiar song of good friendship.  it was an incredibly rich weekend, and my blessing-ometer was off the charts. 

i got many awesome gifts, which i will be enjoying for some time.  below are just two of my faves.  the first is a dvd called "buechner" which is both about him, and features an interview with him, which is a rare thing to find, believe me.  i can't wait to watch it. 

then, this is a vinyl lp (it's a record, kids.  its like a giant black cd.  oh, you don't know what a cd is?  forget it.  its like the music in your mp3 player but a million times more awesome) of nick drake's incredibly powerful and melancholy album "pink moon."  it is such an awesome addition to my collection, and will be the soundtrack to many artful moments, i am certain. 

so i'm a year older, who cares?  i'm a man of seemingly infinite blessings.  and that's more than i could have ever asked for!  thank you!