Because She Exists
Today is her birthday. Exactly four days after the world receives gifts, I have the privilege of waking up to mine every day for the past few decades. We’ve been together since 1990. That means I’ve been with her for every birthday since she was 18. Every chapter and Every version of us. She’s my best friend. And that’s not a line, it’s a life lived.
Birthdays are usually about celebrating the person whose name is on the cake. But today, I want to share something deeper: I wouldn’t be who I am if it weren’t for her. That’s not like a romantic exaggeration. That’s truth. She’s the reason I went to church in the first place. I didn’t grow into faith on my own, I was invited into it by love. She’s the reason I ever stepped into the kitchen. I couldn't even boil water but I wanted her to come home to dinner already done after a long day at work, not knowing that simple desire would awaken a calling, a passion, a whole new way of existing for me.
She’s the reason I know the miracle of life up close. Yes, she carried all three of our children, but I was there, holding her legs, encouraging her, cutting umbilical cords, watching our babies breathe for the first time. The Bible says, “He who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favor from the Lord” (Proverbs 18:22). I didn’t just find love, I found favor.
She helped me break generational cycles of marriage in my family. Together, we didn’t just survive, we re-wrote the blueprint. We chose forgiveness when walking away would’ve been easier. We chose perseverance when quitting made sense. We chose love when pride wanted control. And in doing so, we created a new lineage. She taught me what love actually looks like, not the idea of it, not the facade of it, but the experience of it.
Birthdays are revered. They’re reminders that the world can be more fruitful simply because a person exists in it. Her existence has multiplied lives and relationships, purpose, faith, and futures, including mine. She means the world to me. I don’t share how I feel about her for attention. I don’t do it because I’m trying to be cute or because someone might call me a simp. I do it because I’m grateful. And when something, or someone, has that kind of impact on your life, you should want to share it. And if I’m being honest, it’s also a humble brag. Because I know I’m the last person who deserves something as pure, as patient, and as perfect-for-me as her.
So today, I celebrate another year of her growing gracefully in beauty, wisdom, and patience. Another year of walking beside the woman who helped shape the man I’m still becoming.
Happy Birthday to my best friend. My partner. My answered prayer. And Because she exists, so much else does too.
