23 ans Posted June 25, 2005 at 12:00 am

Birthdays are different for me now than they used to be. I didn’t receive a big stack of presents, nor did I expect to receive many, if any. The meaning of the moment has shifted over the years.

This year, my Dad gave me a better present in the form of a surprise family reunion (of sorts). It’s all too rare a thing for any significant subset of our family to be able to get together in one place at one time. I’ve grown to greatly appreciate those few moments when we can all gather for one occasion.