Forty like you mean it!  

And I do. The last six weeks, a whirlwind
tour of love. On the road & back again so many                  
                                                                                      times. I have seen
so many people, a weaving  

together of all these parts of myself,
in ways both healing &  
                                            affirming. I would not be
the person I am today without every minute
of the last forty years. This milestone  

a celebration of the threads,           
                                                    long, tangled & multi-colored,  

that connect me to each of you.  

Let’s sit together this time,          
                                                 in space
& say           
          “so, who are we now?” The answer,
invariably both everything & ever-changing,  

like a poem.                      
                        To be known through grief & loss,  

that constant evolution of self, is to be
truly known. When I lost my mom,  

my step-mom, when I ended
my long-term partnership, closed off  

a new & deeply profound love—all this alongside
the joys. Yes, always too the joys.        
                                                            The stitch of grief  

runs deep, just like all my relationships do—
scattered now in space & time.      

So, happy birthday to me. But, really, to you
for making it all the more meaningful,  
                                                                      mile-filled, & messy!

—dedicated, with love, to all my friends & family who have made the last few weeks (and years) so sweet—