Happy
Birthday, Sarah!
Can
you really be 40? It seems like just yesterday we were enjoying hot chocolate
at Hardee’s in Oshkosh as you shared your heart of a senior in high school—boy
stuff, family challenges, joys, fears, hopes. I only got that one year of
meeting regularly with you, but my heart has had a special place in it for you
ever since.
When
I think back, I remember the exuberance and joy that overflowed from your
being. That Sarah laugh, that Sarah smile. You were so inviting, so warm, so
full of life. It’s because you knew how to live life to the fullest. You would
tell me stories of how you would make fun out of ordinary things. Your joy and
perspective were contagious!
I
remember celebrating senior moments with you (not the 40-year-old senior
moments where you forget things). My favorite was cheering you on at the
American Legion in the speech competition as you excelled. Whatever you touched
you seemed to excel in—friendships, school, life.
It’s
not that you were all about performance. Rather, you were such a woman of grace
and joy that you just lived out of your being.
I
know you are sitting here wondering if this is all true as you deal with the
constant demands of being a mom, wife, friend, etc. I can say it is all true,
because I witnessed it as the years passed in your home, sitting around the
lunch table, watching you mother your precious kids. Still the same joy, the
same exuberance, the same authenticity, the same joy, the same grace
overflowed. I am so glad those kids get to taste what I did!
Don’t
get me wrong; I know you aren’t perfect. You never tried to be. You were just
always real. From day one I got the real Sarah. And she is as precious and
beautiful to me today as she was 32 years ago.
How
I love and celebrate you!
Love,
Michelle
Beckman
P.S.
You married such an amazing guy, too! To think he cares so much about you that
he would gather us all to celebrate you from near and far.(Editor's note: So true, Michelle, so true! I AM a nice guy! :>)
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