Sandman 1776

Somehow, I made it. The year did not break me, though it tried in the ordinary ways: the nights that ran long, the mornings that asked more than I had, the quiet fear that this might be the season I finally fell short. I did not. I am still here, and that is no small thing. Thank You for the breath I did not earn and the mornings I did not schedule. Thank You for the hands that steadied me when my own were shaking, and for the ones I never saw, working in the dark so I could walk into light I did not arrange. Thank You for the doors that closed before I could ruin myself walking through them, and for the narrow ones that opened when I had already turned to leave. I thank You for the meals that found me, the roofs that held, the words that arrived before I knew I needed them. I thank You for the people who stayed, and for the grace that covered the ones who could not. I thank You for the tears that cleaned what pride would have kept, and for the laughter that came back when I had almost forgotten the sound of it. Somehow, I made it through the waiting and the wondering, through the almost and the not yet. I made it past the days I bargained with and the nights I could not name. I am not unmarked. I am not unchanged. But I am kept. So I lay this year at Your feet, not as a trophy, but as proof. You carried what I could not. You numbered what I lost count of. Another year, and still Your mercy finds me first. Thank You. I made it because You did not let go. Happy birthday to me 🥳🌹♥️