The kids are with Grandma tonight and part of tomorrow. Josh made plans to take me out for my birthday a few days early. It’s a little place in Springfield called the Inn at 835. It’s been a tradition since our wedding to come here. Usually we come on anniversaries but occasionally also come for an extra weekend overnight. We haven’t made it every year. From what we could remember the last time we were here was 2020.

For supper we went to a restaurant called Obed & Isaac’s. It’s something different from the typical chain like Red Robin or Chili’s. It was a nice time and the inn is beautiful and cozy as always.

Last year I didn’t talk about turning 40 or my birthday. I was busy, and I also tend to think it’s weird when people bring up their own birthdays. But life is a gift from God and it is something worth acknowledging. Turning 40 felt as though there was so much I was leaving behind, so much I didn’t know how I could go on and not have. But one of the gifts about marriages lasting is that you are able to in many different ways start over.