How was your last birthday? Was it a great event with a cake, candles, company and cheers? How would you like your next birthday to be? A noted columnist recounted a letter she had received describing one particular person's birthday:
Yesterday was a man's birthday. He was ninety-one. He woke up earlier than usual, bathed, shaved and put on his best clothes. Surely they would come today, he thought.
He didn't take his daily walk to the park to visit and chat with his friends in town because he wanted to be right there when they came.
He sat on the front porch of his house within viewing distance of the road so he could see them coming. Surely they would come today, he reassured himself.
He decided to skip his afternoon nap because he wanted to be awake when they came. He had eight children. Some of his children happened to live in the neighboring town. They hadn't seem him for quite some time. But today, today, was his special day. Surely, they would come today.
At dinnertime, he refused to cut the cake and asked that the ice cream not be brought out of the fridge. He wanted to enjoy dessert with them.
At around 10pm, he put on his pajamas and readied his bed. His last words before turning out the lights were, "Promise to wake me up when they come." He was ninety-one.
The tragedy of life are not the disasters or downturns we experience outside but the loneliness and hurt we feel inside when those who matter most to us don't respond to our primal needs for warmth and love.
A well-known American rabbi once observed a boy and a girl building a sand castle by the seashore. It was a pleasant sight, with the two tykes creating their own little masterpiece of towers and walls and platforms.
Then, in a moment, their fancy creation suddenly came crashing down when a big wave melted into a massive heap of figureless sand. The old man expected the youngsters to burst into tears. But to his surprise, the two just laughed and, holding hands, ran to another part of the beach and proceeded to build another of their fantasy pieces.
The rabbi wrote later on: "All the things in our lives, all the complicated structures we spend so much time and energy trying to build, are built on sand. Only our relationships with others will really endure."
Build your life not on the sand but on the strength of your relationships with others. The path to happiness is homemade; it consists of parents, grandparents, children and siblings, aunts and uncles, and all those who form part of your family. Your family holds the key that can unlock the kind of joy you so eagerly desire.