This took the place of my journaling so figured I would add it here, since I added 2024 here too.
Happy Birthday Truck!
I made reservations for Griffin’s Holiday Recital as soon as possible and was able to score second-row seating. While flipping through the program, I noticed three children with the same last name. Two of them were playing the same song, called Raining Tacos. I had never heard of it before, so I was slightly eager, and slightly afraid, to be honest, to see how that was going to turn out. One was playing drums, the other guitar. And drums at a children’s recital can be a little dicey.
The first Tacos drum soloist walked out in a full Spiderman costume, mask and all. He looked very young. I’m terrible at ages, but maybe five or six? He needed help getting set up, and his older sister (maybe ten?) came out to stand next to him for support. They cranked the backing track (thank goodness), and he enthusiastically got started. The music was infectious, and the family in front of us in the first row was clearly his. The mom knelt down to videotape, and what was very clearly the grandmother started clapping in rhythm, very loudly and very enthusiastically, bouncing right along in her seat. The rest of the audience joined in for a good 30 to 60 seconds before politely tapering off, but the grandma never stopped. She was rocking out for her grandson and wanted the entire auditorium to do the same.
And honestly, her clapping got the whole place going. She was so loudly, unabashedly proud of her grandson that it was genuinely sweet. (She didn’t do the same for the slightly older Grandson on guitar… clearly she had a favorite. She later started checking emails and filing her nails toward the end of the recital, which really irritated me, but I digress.)
But the loud clapping reminded me of someone… Oh, that’s right, it reminded me of YOU! One of your best qualities (one of many, of course) is you are so very good at showing up. That you notice, that you care, that you want people to know that they are seen. I’ve always felt that from you. Cheered for. Encouraged. Supported in quiet and steady ways.
The older I get, the more I realize how rare that is, and how much it matters.
I hope this next year brings you many more moments worth clapping for, and many more chances to keep doing what you do best, showing up, noticing, and loving the people around you so well.
“Encouragement is the oxygen of the soul.” – George Matthew Adams
Happy Birthday to one of the very best!
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