Pure Gold
Arizona · USA
There’s something about October.
True, the days grow shorter and the season cooler, but where summer hustle and September bustle once reigned, a sense of calm, peace, and contentedness ascends to prominence. As the hardwood leaves gain their august tinctures of gold and ocher and carmine, it heralds the need for deep introspection that almost seems hardwired into our souls.
Ash, I think it’s no coincidence that we celebrate your birthday in a month marked not just by change and contemplation but by the unspeakable beauty of our natural world. It’s a time to take stock of our privileges and our provisions, to be grateful for the thousand million miracles great and small that have graced our lives, and to believe in the potential of every tomorrow we are blessed to look forward to.
I know change is hard on you. I know you feel there was much left to do, so much that could have been made better if you just could’ve made a few key others see the wisdom of your ways. I know that the excitement of a change in scenery is accompanied by trepidation about the unfamiliar road that lies ahead. But I also know that within your every fiber lies the courage and conviction to forge ahead bravely, to always do right by those you serve, and to keep principle and effort out of compromise’s way. That is the essence of you and a thing worthy of celebration, today and every day.
But since I’m here, now, in this beautiful space and time, it’s as good a moment as any to remind you that you are like gold to me.
And that will never change.
Happy Birthday, Ashley.
Love,
Tula
