Be Still My Birthday Heart

April 30th is my birthday. This year, I'll be 36. Normally, I don't much care about my birthday. I mean, I like it just fine, but I don't make a big deal out of it and don't get overly excited. This year, for reasons unbeknownst even to me, I've been excited. I mentioned my feelings, in passing, to my dear friend Jen of Attached Parents at Work and the next thing I know, this showed up in my newsfeed.

"This is the part that intimidated me most.
I hope I did it justice, Stephanie" (of Inspired Flow, the original creator of my gorgeous logo).

"About 2 hours into it. It was 90+ degrees today so I had to take a lot of breaks."

"Happy birthday Amy. I love you!"

"I used my sushi bamboo cutting board and front door mat to measure this and draw the lines."

"Had to put on knee socks and running shoes. My feet and cankles got sunburned."

"Hour 5: dark clouds roll in and thunder starts.  I was crying and chalking LOL!  I was Orlando's craziest lady, yelling at the sky 'DON'T YOU DARE RAIN ON THIS!!!'"

"[My son] approved!"

She cleared her calendar for the day, spent more than seven hours creating, drawing, loving me in the 90 degree heat and ugly humidity. For me. Just me. That's love. And it's a love I've felt from precious few people in my life. That's who she is. She's my friend. That means something...to both of us.