33

I am 33 years old today.

I am not complaining.I am not going to say, "I feel old." I honestly believe my life is pretty damn good right now.

Every action leads to others. I would not have turned one way if I hadn't already gone down another street. I feel that with all the twists, turns, leads, and dead ends that I have come to the best place that Matt Butcher should be.

I love my wife. We have such a rapport. I can talk to her about the goofiest things and about serious things. She doesn't think I'm dumb for comic books and still wanting a Transformers wrist watch. She doesn't think I'm dumb when we differ on opinions politically and philosophically (even though we really don't disagree that much). I think that she's absolutely beautiful and a wonderful person.

Now I have two daughters who, as Amy once said, are my "sunrise and sunset." How did I get so lucky to have two smart kids, two beautiful kids, and two people that I genuinely want to spend time with? That's how much of a lucky bastard I am.

I have a full time job teaching. While I complain sometimes, it really is the best job. I don't get dirty. I have lots of time off. Yeah, sometimes I feel like a chef baking a cake without the ingredients but all in all, when it all comes down, when some kids show that spark of learning, it really does make it all worthwhile. And usually when I complain, I am unfortunately complaining about less than 10% of the kids. That isn't fair. It works. You should see these kids getting into memorizing their Shakespeare speech and the media literacy unit that we're doing. Great stuff.

So even though I turn 33 today, I look back and see all the cool things that I've done in my life. I think about all the cool people that I've known that helped me turn left or right. I think about all the experiences that have filled my brain with knowledge.

The point is that when I woke up this morning, I was happy. I smiled. Then I realize that I do that every morning.

Smile and face the world.