Today is my birthday, and I’m counting all the things I love about my life right now.  The darling, temperamental girl shown above, certainly–and the fact that a front loader can excite her to no end.  Dan, my best friend and husband.  Loyal friends you can count on.  Health.  The beauty of the smallest things, like the flowers Dan bought for me here in Simferopol (see the main blog page under the title “Things of Beauty”) and stuck in one of our empty water bottles.  We placed the whole kit and caboodle in the window by the dining room table.

It took Dan many years to realize I was serious when I said that the perfect gift is when someone gives you time, not money or things.  By that I mean that special thought was given to doing things peculiar and special to me.  For instance, a couple of years back, Dan planned a whole day, where we went bike riding along the Lanesboro Bike Trail (one of my favorite things to do on a fall day), then went to eat at a secluded restaurant.  I think we might have seen a movie that night.  But he had planned every detail of it for me.

As we are walking along the river near our apartment in Simferopol again today, Dan bemoans the fact that all he had planned for my birthday is going by the wayside.  I say, “There’s always next year.  Or any other day.”

For now, I feel very rich indeed.  And our Liliana has had a terrific day so far.  She’s napping now, and I’m sure she’ll wake up with even more energy than we both thought possible.

Then I can watch the front loader go into a frenzied spin with her by my side.  Dan can give her the empty Dannon yogurt cup he’s washed out for her.  We can both watch as she stands in the middle of the living room, singing at the top of her lungs–and then stop and scold the plastic bottles she’s lined up in a row.

I want to remember this day.  How difficult this trip has been–disappointment at every turn–yet how grateful I am for the end result.  I not only appreciate my husband more, but the country we live in, and the opportunities we have that the people here do not have.

Dan told me a story the other day about when he was in college.  He asked his father Rich which stage of their (his children’s lives) he enjoyed the most.  Rich replied, “Always the stage of life you were in at the time.”

So, for the record, this is my happiest birthday ever.  The most perfect birthday will always be the birthday that’s happening right now.