Today is Nathan’s birthday.

I didn’t forget, Nathan, aren’t you proud of me?  Nathan, my youngest brother, is twenty-five today.

I think that’s a nice age to be.  But it’s also an age that you tend to get your first “mid-life crisis.”  I think it’d be more accurate to say “quarter-life crisis” since I hope Nathan lives to be more than fifty.  But you start to wonder if you’re living up to your potential and you think about the dreams you had as a kid and you wonder if you’re ever going to fulfill them or even if you still want to.  And if you’re not married you think about that and wonder why you’re not, if you want to be, and if you don’t have kids, you want to have them too.  In short, you feel like you’re “behind” if you don’t measure up to some perceived standard regarding career, relationships, or family.

The reason I know all this is because I went through it myself.  And now that I’m in my thirties I still have those kinds of thoughts sometimes.  On the other hand I’ve realized that I can’t live my life by other people’s standards, whether real or perceived.  Since joining the Navy I’ve met people who’ve taken widely differing “paths” in life.  At the end of the day, we all have to do what’s right for us, even if that means we don’t have everything we wish we did.

I don’t know if that helps, Nathan, in case you get any of these thoughts.  I’ve been praying for you, and I know you’ll make it to where you’re suposed to be when you’re supposed to be there.  I have, even though it didn’t always seem like it at the time.  In the meantime, have a really happy, happy birthday!

I hope I haven’t embarrased you or anything.  If I have, you can “beat me up” the next time you see me.  Have a happy birthday, Nathan.  I love you!