nine and twenty!

dearest chelsea. 

oh girl. you are finally here. your GOLDEN birthday. turning 29 on august the 29th. you've been dreaming of this day since jade's twelfth golden birthday with the limousine. and your amazing, understanding husband hooked. you. up. a night away, alone, in downtown boston. right now you are chillin' in a giant hotel bed with no one but the voices in your head. it's exactly what you dreamed of all year long. your life is busy. and happy. and noisy. some quiet reflective solitude is a luxury without price. this city is dreamy and you get to explore some of it on your own! geez, this is a birthday for the ages. you are spoiled. 

moving on. let me see, what has happened this past year. Jeff completed his first year of business school, and it was busy. so busy. he had homework and projects and even took a two week school trip to south africa. then you picked up and moved go michigan for a summer internship. see? busy. but it also was a crazy amount of fun.  it surprised you, how fast you bonded with your new friends. but it was a good surprise. and although come spring you will all be scattered in wind, you have a few friends for life. and that feels good. 

speaking of spring, the thought of it brings both excitement and all sorts of anxiety. as of now, you have a few options of where you will be post school. none of which are mesa. this is a bit of a sting. you always knew the odds were low, but there was that part of you that hoped against hope that you would get to move home after school. but when it became clear that is not the case, you mourned. and then panicked. and now, you are sad, but have found peace. and maybe even a little bit of your very small adventurous side. after all, boston has turned out to be wonderful, right? right? it'll be okay. I promise. 

the older you get, and the more established your family gets, the more you realize your home is where they are. if jeff, petra, rilla, and lars are there, that's where you wanna be. (except for tonight, obvi. that's for you, girl!) jeff turned 30 this year, and isn't he just handsome. he works so hard for you. don't forget to recognize and appreciate that. petra is sweet and capable and often you forget how young she is. don't forget and don't rush her. rilla is hilarious and bold, but don't forget she is so very tender and if you say "I'm gonna just leave you here if you don't get your shoes on right his minute" she will believe you and crumble into a ball of tears. lars. oh lars. he's all boy, and ball with daddy is his favorite. don't forget to give him the attention he needs. he needs you to help him be gentle and soft. 

and what about you, oh chelsea? this year you pushed yourself to be social. and it paid off. you relearned the joy of summer vacation. you let you hair grow longer. you started practicing your make up skillz, and some days it actually looks pretty alright. you tried your best to nurture your family. spiritually and nutritionally. heads up, lots of room for improvement on both accounts. you realized how much fun your kids are to be around. you still like to workout, and you still like to eat. it's been a year of figuring out the balance of both. you love to be funny. someone tells you you're funny and you feel what you imagine to be fairly similar to how a puppy feels getting a pet on the head. jeff is still your favorite person to make laugh, because he is the hard get. but alas, you are seriously tired all the time, and making jokes requires brain cells. get some sleep and make more people laugh. 

enjoy the next year chels. you have some amazing things coming up, and it'll go by quickly. 

happy golden! birthday chels. you are actually really starting to like you. 

faithfully yours,

chels

ha! look at you taking yourself so seriously. 

p.s. last years letter here -> http://cstockwrite.blogspot.com/2012/08/2122.html?m=1