The Greatest Day of Each Year

No, I am not talking about Valentine’s Day, which just happens to be today. No, I am not talking about the usual suspects, Christmas, Easter, or Thanksgiving. No, I am not talking about my birthday. No, I am not even talking about Opening Day of MLB or Masters Sunday. Nor am I talking about the kickoff of soccer and football season in the fall (though they are close).

I am talking about February 10, my son’s birthday, the day that over the last two or three years has come to be my absolute favorite of the year.

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For as long as I can remember, I’ve had this feeling inside that every day should be lived to the max. Only in the last almost four years have I actually acted 100% on that, making sure that Saturday was no more important than Monday, Sunday no more important than Wednesday. I remember having the feeling inside that if I wanted to give thanks, I need not wait until Thanksgiving. That if I wanted to show love, a random Thursday would do. And MY birthday? My parents should be the ones celebrated, not me.

As such, I didn’t have a day, a day that I just adored, outside of a handful on the sports calendar that indeed got me buzzing.

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Every year just prior to February 10, Christy commandeers my phone and snags hundreds of pictures of our son to make a beautiful year in review birthday video. This video is really the crux of why February 10 is my favorite day of the year. On his birthday, we make a big freaking deal of the entire day, then that night, to the backdrop of some meaningful song that year, we watch the video. And I cry and cry and cry, thinking about each picture and what we were doing and/or talking about when it was taken.

You see, one of the skills I’ve most enjoyed developing over the past four years has been the ability to take photos and videos and still truly be present. To not live the moment through a video, but to live the moment real time AND have a video to remind me of the moment later on. It took some time to get it right, but on February 10 each year, the effort is so worth it.

As we watched earlier this week, through my tears, I would shout exactly what we were talking about as each picture was taken (annoying, I’m sure). Or what day it was. Or any number of other meaningful stuff. It was like reliving all of these wonderful moments over again, if only for five seconds.

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Sometimes the big man asks us to put the phone away, and sometimes he desperately wants us to take some silly video when we really don’t want to. It’s a balancing act that will never be perfect.

But as long as I am honestly in the moment, fully conscious of what is happening, able to feel, I am going to snap away. Because on February 10 each year, we go back in the past to relive what was already felt in the present, and that gets me super excited for all of life’s possibilities for the next year.

And that is why it has easily become my favorite day of the year.

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Have a great week.-Benj

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