Happy 40th Birthday Michael!

Dear Michael,

The first time I saw you, I knew there was something special about you. What I didn't know is that I would fall in love with you and move to San Francisco with you four months later to start college, then to Santa Cruz, and finally to Santa Barbara where we would both complete our undergraduate degrees in Art and Music. During those first 6 years together, I watched you with amazement as you created a vast repertoire of incredible drawings and paintings that now hang on walls in the homes of family and friends. You always worked from your heart and soul, making things that not only impressed the eyes of the observer, but their minds and hearts as well. I will never forget your first gift to me (other than your heart itself), the photo realistic drawing of me that you spent countless hours on. It makes me happy that my beloved grandparents saw that drawing everyday in their stairwell for their last years together because your generous spirit insisted that we later give it them. Do you remember the year we worked together on the native american teepee lamps for your family's Christmas presents? Your dad saw one in a store or magazine, I believe and showed it to you. You soon after gathered the materials by hand, finding the perfect manzanita sticks near the house where we lived, went to several stores to find the right shade and thickness of rice paper, crystals, and feathers and went to work on the lamps. Not only did your technical abilities amaze me that you knew how to construct a lamp, make it work and be something pretty to look at, but also your generous heart that I've learned is the fire that keeps your creativity always burning with energy.

It was 7 years after we met, that we exchanged vows to love one another for the rest of our lives. But I knew the day you asked me to marry you, which was long before our wedding day, that we had made that promise already. From those early magical years together where our days were spent making music, art, and love together to years that were at times more about learning to cope with life's drudgeries and the vicissitudes of life, to our most recent years which include the brave decisions to reinvent ourselves by becoming parents, and you, a student once more on the path to a career in medicine, it has been a wonderful time sharing our lives together. And when I look back on it now, I see how your heart's burning creativity has played such an important role in all of our endeavors. Your courage, love, and generous spirit has been a shining light on all of our paths together and alone. I love you for who you are, for who I have become with you by my side, and for the father you are to our son. Happy Birthday!