I wrote this last week, on my birthday, and wanted to share it here. Something about reading these words out loud makes me feel so good.

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35 years young today and man—to be alive is wild. 

It’s beautiful and it’s messy and it’s hard and it’s wondrous. 

It’s confusing and it’s worth it. 

I am feeling grateful for being able to use my legs another day. 

I have lungs to breathe sweet fresh air.

I have ears to hear my favorite songs over and over and over again.

I have eyes to see beautiful sunsets and even more beautiful people.

I have a mouth to taste. 

I have a mind to be curious. 

It’s all kind of magical. 

Despite all the pain, it’s magical. 

Maybe even sometimes because of all the pain, it’s extra magical. 

How do you know beauty unless you see something that’s not? 

To be alive is a miracle. I really believe this to be true. 

Out of all the endless possibilities of life—we are right here, right now, alive. 

My birthday wish, and my wish for every other day, is for us all to experience feeling soft and loved and warm and cherished and held. 

Good food, belly laughs, and deep, slow kisses. 

Weepy tears, moments of clarity, and phone calls from best friends. 

Hot showers, long stretches, and an empty notebook with a brand new pen. 

Wrapping your hands around your favorite mug of hot tea. 

Long drives to nowhere with someone.

The deep ache of a heart broken from trying.

May you feel it all—joy, pain, and sky. 

In a lot of ways I feel 305, and in some ways, I still feel like I’m 5. 

But it’s all happening at the same time and I’m aware that it is and WOW! You know?

I am aware that I am alive.

How wild.

How beautiful.

-Jessie Raye

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