HAPPY BIRTHDAY JENNY!

Today, October 20, is Jenny‘s birthday and to me it’s the most important date on the entire calendar. It’s more important to me than even my own birthday because it's Jenny, after all, who made my life worth living.

Please take a moment to think about Jenny and how much you meant to each other. Maybe even think of her sitting across from you, as I often do. What would you say to her?

If you never met Jenny, please take a minute or two to wander around this website and get to know her.

In this post is a video where we sing Happy Birthday to Jenny. Dylan and Tyler did all the camera work in one take.

Birthdays are about recognition. And, on that note, I'm happy to say that Jenny‘s positive presence flourishes throughout our daily lives. Her Spotify playlists remain unchanged so we listen to her music and podcasts every day, we use her recipes for our dinners, her plants continue to make our home beautiful and her wishes govern our home. Dylan still drinks his milk every morning only because Jenny wants him to. (He otherwise isn't a fan of cow juice!) Her energy thrives every day through her kids, our thoughts, her fragrance that surrounds us and even in her clothes that I sleep with. I still ask her for advice, I still tell her about my day. I still send her emails. I love her today as much as ever and in a way that only a man desperately in love with his wife can.

Letters to Jenny that went with the balloon. Dylan made the butterfly.

I can’t help but believe that Jenny is out there watching the things we do and reading the messages we write. However, on this day, we’ll try to make things a little easier for Jenny and send our messages to her by balloon. Tyler didn't want to make his note public, but I have to say I'm surprised how cheerful and positive his thoughts are for his mom on this special day. I made a promise to myself to not cry today, but I broke that vow first thing this morning when I read Dylan's note to Jenny. He mentioned that he'll be an Eagle Scout and his ceremony is supposed to have his mom by his side. It won't be right that she's not next to him because she had more to do with his making Eagle than anyone else. He did say, however, that at that ceremony she will be even closer to him.

Not long after we launched the balloon, we heard a neighbor say, "That balloon says, 'Happy Birthday'!" I'm glad at least someone got the message.

Speaking of birthdays, I couldn't help but notice that Jenny got more and more beautiful as she got older. Seriously. How did she pull that off?

Please be happy, my dear Jenny. Your family loves you, adores you and can't stop thinking about you. Please smile upon us from above.

Flowers left at our door this morning by Jenny's friends

All photos in this post were taken this morning.