Good Birthday Karma

Day 29 - Photo 29.

"Dear Whitney...Sister Bear!
I've watched a lot of your life through my lens. You are the most photographed of all my children. And so it is today. Your birthday, Happy Birthday! And you're a big girl. Actually you're a woman. You're 22-years-old. When did that happen? It's nice to see you here celebrating your birthday with your young students. I guess I've known you were a woman for a long time. But I don't think it really hit me until I looked at the little girl helping you blow out the candle and realized how much she reminds me of you when you were little. I can still smell the candles you've just blown out as that little girl.

When you were little, you used to say you had bad birthday Karma. We'd plan a party and it never seemed to work out. Being so close to Halloween it seemed as though your friends all had other plans. Bad birthday Karma I guess.

Maybe you've always known it, though I've never said it. As your father, when you suffer, I suffer. My heart aches and I suffer through all of the heartbreaks, the disappointments, the breakups and the missed opportunities. I want a better life for you. I want you to have everything you need. I don't want you to hurt. And yet I know, more often than not, you'll come out the other side just fine. And you have. Yet, my heart still aches for all those hurts and wish I could fix them. I ache for the bad Karma and wish for better.

What are you wishing for today Sister Bear? I hope it comes true.
Love Daddy"