Abby came tumbling downstairs this morning, then visibly deflated when she walked into the dining room. “Mom!! The Birthday Fairy didn’t come!”  She spun around in her kitty-cat nightgown, hair all cattywhompus from bed, her face a creative mix of crestfallen and worried.

Poor sweetie. It’s my birthday… It never occurred to me to decorate for myself last night, the way I do for my kids on their birthdays. It’s a longstanding tradition in my family- the Birthday Fairy came to me even after I moved out of home, until I got married myself. My mom The Birthday Fairy would find a way to sneak into my house while I was at work and decorate with balloons and streamers. She even filled one of my brother’s room with multi-colored balloons to a depth of about four feet. The. Whole. Room. My mom The Birthday Fairy was Pinterest before Pinterest was a gleam in a coder’s eye.

I’ve always done the same for my kids. The boys are oblivious, and have not much noticed what happens for me- but Abby was apparently hoping the house would be celebrating Mom today. It’s really rather charming and sweet, and makes me think I ought to be more careful talking about Santa Claus, at least for another year.

So today is October 3. Just another day on the calendar, but it’s always been special to me. I think I’m officially at the mid-way point in life. Is this what I imagined? Never in a million years. It’s a million times better. It’s a good thing we don’t really control our lives- we wouldn’t be half the people we turn out to be if we got to write the story-lines.

There’s an odd comfort and certainty in that truth.

So thank you, to those of you who’ve helped me live my story, and thank you to those of you who’ve woven pieces of this tapestry alongside me, whether it was a bit part long ago, or a constant pattern emerging over the years. Thank you for sharing in the tiny glimpses we get of magic- be that magic the belief in fairies, or in people who love us and are willing to take a gamble, risk their hearts, to show it. Today…. today, life is good.

For the record, I got my hair cut today, but I did NOT dye it red. So far, Tracy: 1, October Compulsion: 0. May it ever be so. I may look like a dork, but my hair is fabulous. Priorities, darling.