Birthday treasure

My daughter gave me a hand drawn treasure map for my birthday.  It is lovely to me, made with care and love.  But the true beauty in it for me is not the "heart shaped jewel bracelet" in the treasure chest, but in the fact that she located it right outside of our (purple) house.  She even drew the dirt that we would dig up to find it, and the neighbors' (much larger) house beside us.  I can see a deeper message in this.  I don't have to go far to look for my treasure; it is always with me.  Sometimes I have to dig a little but it remains right below the surface.

I see the treasure in my sweet husband who works so hard to make this a special day for me and who has never forgotten a special occasion.  And even though I give him a hard time about remembering, even if he happened to let one slip by, I'm blessed by how he makes each day beautiful.

I feel it in the love of my coworkers and students that decorated my office today with streamers and love notes.

I witness it in the miracle that my favorite flowers that grew and bloomed for my birthday week.

I realize it in watching our daughter grow physically and socially as she performed in a school play 

and am grateful to have had lunch with my two silly ones (even with the inevitable fits that ensued).

There are so many treasures that I often overlook as I'm expecting something different.  I may envision a heart-shaped bracelet, when instead, my treasure looks a lot like digging and getting messy in the dirt of life.  There are moments that sparkle and shine, and these are gifts, but the greatest blessing is the day by day struggle where we must seek and find the good in all that at first glace seems dull and regular.  I guess that's why they call it a treasure HUNT.  If it was always visible and easily accessible, it wouldn't be so valuable.  There is something about the search, the struggle, and the challenge of the day to day that both obscures my blessings and in rare shining moments makes them visible to me.  

So here I am at 36, with my first photo in the bathroom mirror shot, looking forward to unearthing more treasures in the year ahead and sharing them with those around me.