Everyone needs a little celebration

I think this time of year is going to be my favorite.. or it will at least be on-par with Christmas and Thanksgiving in a way I never thought my birthday would be. When I was little, I remember hoping I'd always celebrate my birthday.. then I wondered if I still would when I got older and it stopped mattering as much. Now, I know we'll be celebrating for both of us on that day till the cows come home, even when we've lost our glasses and forget where we last saw our dentures!
I can't think of a way I would have wanted to plan out our year better than our almost-incidental choice of marriage date has made the year turn out. Celebrating will now be almost a week long for us - every year at the end of April and the beginning of May. Like Christmas and Thanksgiving, it will give us plenty of excuses to do cute things together, and spend time talking to family and reminding ourselves how lucky and blessed we are to have wonderful friends, family, and a best friend who is ours eternally. It certainly has made this past weekend wonderful that way. wow. Happy Birthday!
I never could have imagined the peace and happiness this week has brought to our home and our lives - not to mention the excitement in hearing all the cool things going on in other people's lives. I'm afraid I don't have any pictures that can express the feeling of this weekend in any kind of adequate way.. so I'll leave it to imagination. Maybe, if you can think of the peace of the temple, the warmth of your eternal sweetheart's hand in yours, the tangy taste of garlic, seafood, pasta and marinara sauce, the pleasantness of clean laughter, the joy of giving appreciated gifts, the fun of friendship, the warmth and sweet smell of Hawai'i's breeze, and the excitement of family and receiving mail full of love from far-away, plus the anticipation of doing something sneaky to celebrate another birthday... then roll that all into one moment and one memory you'll feel the picture I need.
So, Thank you, Mom and Dad for your patience in raising me, and thank you Mom and Dad Q for your patience in raising J.. It's thanks to you that we are able to have each other for ever and ever for our birthdays. As he says, mahalo nuiloa! We love you!