Temperatures of 116 degrees Fahrenheit couldn’t scorch the magnificent tapestry of my birthday. Just being alive and in good health was enough, but my cup ran over with well wishes from friends and family near and far. Thank you all.
It’s not the same for everyone, but I appreciate being remembered on my birthday. However, I’m learning that what pleases me may not please someone else.
Like me, you might think that everyone wants to be remembered on their birthday. I have discovered that this is not true. This discovery makes me think that it’s not always best to “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Instead, I read somewhere that we should “do unto others as they would have you do unto them.” This is an acquired skill that I’m attempting to master.
I wish you everything that makes you happy.
Gwen Dungy 
Each day is a gift we give ourselves and others! Thank you! I love this Mary Oliver poem that celebrates life and poses the challenge about living fully! ♥️
Poem 133: The Summer Day
Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean—
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down—
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?
—Mary Oliver