happy birthday matt. i love you for lots of reasons. even on this birthday when you aren't so happy about marking another year without having marked other important achievements that you set for yourself last year. but i wanted to tell you this: i believe in you. and i believe in the magic of numbers. we are living a happily ever after of numbers, you & me. and this is a gift to be grateful for.
our marriage is the magnet of a million tiny decisions - starting long ago and far away with people who share our blood but who we have never met.
5 generations of family that unknowingly followed each other across a growing nation, ending up in a tiny wine country town a hundred years later so that two little hippy kids could meet in elementary school.
great-great grandparents - immigrants from poland and ireland, germany and france - all of whom happened to be plopped down in the same neighborhood in duluth, minnesota and who may or may not have known each other.
great-grandparents who made the trek across the country to california in search of who-knows-what.
grandparents who lived only blocks away from each other in the same san francisco neighborhood but somehow never knew each other.
grandfathers who worked in the same police department and never met.
parents who found their way to sonoma just as they were starting families of their own.
mothers who, at different times, loved one man who was a father figure to both of us.
a fourth grade teacher who watched over us as our eyes sparked with something that would later become love & marriage.
an astrologer who picked our wedding day & time so that our union would have its own auspicious chart.
and here we are at the tail end of those numbers, in the middle of numbers yet to come - the number 42 a fleeting milestone in comparison to all the luck that has led us here.
*
marriage is an entanglement of love and exasperation in equal measure. but when i think of all the universe has done to bring us together, i marvel at the magic of it. i dig my heels in and know this marriage must work. i look at you and remember you in the fourth grade - shaggy hair and pants too short for your long legs and stunning eyes and a dimpled grin - and my heart bursts with love. and gratitude for you too. with all of this in our favor, i believe in destiny and the rightness of being together even on the days we want to kill each other.
how could a fairytale of numbers be wrong?
even our birthdays are magically symmetrical:
you born on 1-14-70.
me, 10 months later on 11-14-70.
both of us born in 1970 and our last name sevenau. or 7-0.
and we met in sonoma - area code 707 - where we now raise our children.
if all of this could bring us together, and continue the destiny of our family tree:
(family tree & chalk art by satchel)
and give us this:
and this:
and this:
it is worth celebrating 42. because the numbers tell us there is alot more magic in store.
happy birthday.
Stunning tribute to your man, your journey, and your devotion to love, Brooke. I'm in awe of your tender confessions of awareness and gratitude. I don't know you aside from our phone conversation, but I can tell you are a thoughtful, wise, and dedicated wife, mother, and woman. Courage is the word that speaks to me here. That's what true beauty is. Having the courage to walk the "entanglement of love and exasperation in equal measures", is not an act for the weak-hearted. You have a strong one...I can tell. That's quite an inspiration for us all.
Thank you for posting this. My own soul is still feeling the million tiny decisions that lead me up to reading it. And it culminated in getting to know you. :)
Posted by: sabrina chaw | March 01, 2012 at 11:29 AM
I just cried a little. That's pretty sweet, and so are both of you.
Posted by: Melissa | January 28, 2012 at 08:35 PM
Happy Birthday my friends!!! I love you guys! Always, so articulate, kind and wonderful!
Posted by: Nicole Abate Ducarroz | January 19, 2012 at 09:19 PM
Wishing Matt a very happy birthday and everything he is hoping for this year. Also, I am SO jealous that you knew him when he was a kid. I met Toby when I was young (17, and he was 18) but we still talk about wishing we'd known each other when we were even younger. Childhood sweethearts or at least friends would be so cool, I think. Oh well, we met when we were supposed to I guess!
xoxo
Posted by: Rebekah | January 19, 2012 at 07:24 PM
Ummm. Can we please take out the first two pics? Kinda disturbing...
Love you B!
Posted by: M70 | January 19, 2012 at 05:50 PM
Oh! I know I've said this many times before, but I LOVE your tributes to your man, Brooke. You make it all sound so magical & mystical, that it makes me really believe that real love & connection is possible. I don't see or feel it for myself, but when I look at you, your guy & your children, it's like opening a fairy tale book, even though I know it's not all daisies. But I adore how you sure make it sound & look as tho it is. Happy Birthday to your "magic man." :-)
Posted by: tracey k in ohio | January 19, 2012 at 07:37 AM
Is your Christmas tree still up? ;) xoxoxo
Posted by: marianne | January 18, 2012 at 09:54 PM
matt was a hippy kids???? love him so.
Posted by: mb | January 18, 2012 at 08:42 PM
What a wonderful birthday blog to your love!! Bravo! Happy Birthday Matt~! Sending you some sun from Mexico!!!
Saludos
Posted by: chantel | January 18, 2012 at 07:02 PM