Having friends and having a birthday is a good reminder that there are others who are in on the project of me being alive and me finding joy. I really don't deserve so much goodness in one life, on one birthday. 

Two friends gave me stationery for my letter habit and two more friends gave me Tandem gift cards for my crepe and coffee habit. Friends also gave me a hat, kitchen towels, fancy almond butter, fancy chocolate, a plant, a plate, a 3-year Q&A journal, and a dozen cards.

TJ gave me the best surprise gift imaginable, a board on which to design and display quotes just like the one at GB&D. He also bought me new Lululemon shorts when we were out together on my birthday.

But this kind of welcome and solidarity need not wait for birthdays. A friend lent me a beautiful cookbook because she knew I would like it. Another friend brought me blackberries, fresh from an orchard, and my neighbor gives me fresh eggs from time to time till our chickens start laying.

What is all this ground we’re laying? We are loving on each other because we are all here alive together. Such a short time we get in this garden, but being together with these people in this place is always a gift.

Thank you, my lovely friends and family. As long as our lives continue, may we give ourselves, our attention, our time, our kindness, our well wishes, our letters, our love.