It’s one of our most told stories.
It was the summer of 1991. Brett was interning in Washington DC. I was backpacking around Europe for 6 weeks. We had been dating for 6 months.
These were the pre-Internet, pre-mobile phone days when travel involved printed maps, travellers checks and International calling cards for emergency use only. The only real method of communication with people back home then was giving them your itinerary and asking them to send you letters to a few pre-arranged mail stops. Between a fast paced itinerary and sending snail mail across an ocean, you’d be lucky to get a few
37 beautiful love letters found me that summer. One for almost every day I was away. My return rate … well, was not even close. But thankfully, Brett has never been one to keep score on things not involving an athletic competition.
One could chalk this story up to young love except that as Brett turns 50 years old today, the letter writing may have stopped but that same freight train of intention has not slowed. In fact, it’s caught more people up in its web including our three boys who have experienced their own versions of his undeterred, antennae up, daily doses of love.
Character doesn’t just happen, it has to be cultivated. I have watched this man over the past 30 years be curious about what and who he doesn’t know and stay rooted in what he does. And it’s the intersection of these two qualities that has made him progressively less interested in being right and way more interested in being love. It’s why whether in his personal or professional life, he is happiest when he can help someone else shine. Or, when he walks into a store like he did this weekend in Spain he can chat up someone he doesn’t know and walk out having made a friend named Todi.
We throw around the word “legend” in our house a lot. As in “that guy’s a legend.” It’s our shorthand speak for someone who has has gone out of their way to be awesome. Brett, you are our ORIGINAL LEGEND and today we celebrate 50 years of your awesomeness.
Thankfully, you won’t be keeping score on who did more for each other’s 50th birthday .. because once again, it won’t even be close. But by now we know it’s not things or attention you want but stories to treasure. And also a good workout and a good meal.
So here’s to the start of your next decade of story making. Happy birthday, my love.