It's my Birthday

It's my birthday...as of an hour ago...
I am now 25. A quarter of a century has passed since I first began absorbing the parts of this world that were set around me.
The words people spoke began to have meaning, colors became more than just blue and green.
Red and white.
This life really is just the collection of snapshots we manage to file away.
The images that we carry in our backpacks and luggage as we go through the process of growing up.
The ones we choose to keep, no matter how distorted. As well as the ones we can't seem to get rid of. The images that are placed in that spot on the small of your back that neither hand can quite reach.
This is what life comes down to. Or at least I thought.

I think everyone deserves the chance to pick a point in their life to hit the pause button. To sit back and just reflect on the score up to this point.
To devise a new game plan. Make adjustments where they are needed.
I got such a chance...

It's funny how I am now 25, and I have alot more than what I was carrying in my backpack a few months ago.
I may not have the money I thought I would, or the friends I thought I had.
I may not have the wife or kids or job that life seems to be scripted for.
I may not have the success or respect or status that others do.

But I do have my health.
I understand what "Surrender" means, and "Honor". What they truly mean, not the storybook definition.
I know when the right thing isn't neccessarily the right thing. And know that I have the courage within me to do it.
I know the difference between Religion and Spirituality...and have been given the wisdom to see through the mess.
I know the real meaning of Love...and have felt it. It's loss too.
I know that I am one of the lucky ones. And so are all of you if you so choose to see it.

I may not have many things, and as young as I am, I wouldn't want to be anyone or anywhere else...
than exactly where I am, doing exactly what I am supposed to be doing...
Right now.