Happy birthday, Juanito

Dear Juanito,

It's crazy to think that i've known you for nearly 25 years now - since you were 18 (which, ohmygosh, i just realized is only 5 and a half years older than Houston is now). So...well over half your life. I knew you when you were a slightly unsure-of-yourself teenager. I think that "unsure-of-yourself" is not a term that could be even remotely applied to you today.

I think that you are the most insanely self-confident person i know. You think that you are incredibly cool and good-looking and great at nearly everything...and you're generally totally right. You ARE cool and good-looking and great at nearly everything. I cannot understand your self-confidence, and it sometimes makes me laugh when you tell me stories about how awesome you are, but i love that about you. And i love that your self-confidence is totally rubbing off on our kids so that they're pretty sure that they're really awesome too.

I think that nearly every hobby you had when we were dating has fallen by the wayside to be overtaken by new hobbies/obsessions. Computers, your scooter, and Zumba have taken the place of sewing, making up songs, and art, and i fully expect that in another 20 years, there will be an entirely new set of things that you love. Whatever it is, it'll become a full-on obsession, i have no doubt. You don't do hobbies half-heartedly. You are filled with a passion and joy, and even if i don't care about scooters or Zumba or whatever, i have to admit that yours is the best and coolest.

You love "Hello Kitty." What kind of 43-year-old man is that obsessed with a kitty that's totally marketed for little girls? And yet, you somehow manage to make people think that that's fun rather than totally odd. You wear a million bracelets on your wrists...to cover your "weak, skinny wrists." Nobody ever seems to notice that that's such a teenaged-girl thing to do. You're a 43-year-old white man with dreadlocks, which is completely not normal. You're kind of weird, is what i'm trying to say. And nobody cares at all, because you're also the kindest, most loving, most giving man i know. You're open and funny and accepting of people the way they are.

I love you! Happy birthday!