TOAY IS DAN"S BIRTHDAY!!! lets take some time out of our busy lives to say,
"happy birthday to you
happy birthday to you
happy birthday dear dan!
happy birthday to you!"

birthdays are cool. they remind us we are growing and progressing-and although many people may think getting older is a bad thing (especially in america where they wanna sell you a remedy for everything, including age...i mean really? a remedy for age?--i digress)
i think birthdays a re abeautiful thing. people say its all downhill after 21, i think its all uphill.
you get wiser, stronger, smarter (hopefully---)
you realize thing you may have done wrong, you begin to want to atone for these things, some of us begin to care less what others thing and thereby gain more freedom to be ourselves.

today dan turns 33, but it is not his age that is what matters. it is the reminder that he, like all of us, is growing and turning along with our world. and although i know a few people with this birthday, today i turn attention to him. Dan is the man. thats how i first explained him to my mother. a man with a wonderful sense of perception, grace, patience and empathy. he reminds me where i am lacking and also where i remain strong. he isd not perfect--a testament to how we beleive we are right, but must remember we are all usually wrong.

the otherday i got a text from someone (who i had been ignoring for some time to take time for myself and detract from energy spending with people that are not an integral part of my life). the text said something along the lines of text me back, i have something to tell you real bad. thinking some kind of life changing or terrible mishap happened, i text back and to my dismay it is (although tragic) a selfish display if immaturity. this knd of urgency to let me know that two months ago HE was injured and will not be playing football this season. what this had to do with me baffled me, and i proceeded into meaningless texts, about HIS birthday coming up (which also happens to be today) and what HE is doing, and why i havent talked to HIM. I explained as briefly as possible, that i have stopped communicating with those that i dont see on a regular basis, with the exception of family. and then got asked "WHY?" Do i need a reason any more complex than i dont feel like it. or its a waste of my energy when im not getting anything in return? (thats not sefish, its called being wisely self centered)

Today is Dan's birthday, a good day for me to wish him happiness and remind him he is wiser, not older. his age is only a number--his wisdom, something that cannot be numbered-is ageless. his influence, something that cannot be measured.

I write about Dan, because without him--in all honesty, i dont think i would be at the place mentally (or physically) that i am now. He has filled my days witha perspective unmatched. this doesnt mean i think he is always right, but most of the time, he is close to right.

in islam, birthdays are not celebrated, they are considered to take away from the ever glorious god, or be a thing of childhood. i think not. the day we are born represents so much. a oneness with the earth and space and change from the time we were born to now. a showing of progress, a day to indulge in ourselves and not give our energy out freely for all to suck us dry.

dan told me today-in a response text that i should write music. but to start with a poem or two.

here goes:


smiles are the words of the soul,
they speak softly, grow quietly
curled between ears, lips bent in graciousness
let us speak more from the soul
happy birthday!