Today is my sweet husband Donnie’s 44th birthday.

Forty-four. Wow. That sounds like such a big number. Even ten years ago, anything beyond 40 just sounded…old.

It’s funny how, now that he and I are both approaching our mid-forties, it doesn’t seem old at all. Because we were talking, and had to agree: we still feel like the same people we were twenty years ago.

Oh, we’re more mature. I like the way that we don’t worry so much over all the little things that used to bug us back then. I like how God has shown us through the years to extend grace to others, including ourselves. I can’t say I was very gracious in my twenties. Everything was about me. Everything seemed like a BIG DEAL.

I behaved as though everything was a BIG DEAL. Now most of those things that worried me so seem so small.

But the essence of who we are is still the same as twenty years ago. He still gets up early, raring to go each day. He’s always loved Volkswagens and fixing things and watching TV. I still stay up way later than I should, and I’m still the artsy, crafty, motherly person I’ve always been.

Together, I think we’re still a pretty good match.

One thing I become acutely aware of with each passing year, and that is how fast each year passes by. Here we are in late July—it’s already back-to-school time. Then it’s Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas and a whole new year will be upon us when I swear it feels like this one just began!

My baby will be one year old in two months, my middle son is starting third grade, and my oldest will be a teenager in January.

The days are long, but the years are so short. So very, very short.

Note that I didn’t mention my birthday, which is coming up far too soon for me. I know they say age is just what you make of it, but I still can’t grasp the fact that I’m over 40, no matter how loudly my aches and pains announce that to me each morning.

Donnie and I laugh together over our creaks and aches that we didn’t have a decade ago. We talk about how we need to get fit so we can keep up with this house full of boys. Maybe one day soon, we’ll move beyond talk and actually do it!

Birthdays. The day we celebrate the arrival of the people we love. We give them gifts, but they are really God’s gift to us.