Baby gal,
If I could choose where to be today,
it would be beside you.
Close enough to hear your giggle
without a speaker between us.
Close enough to kiss you
before I even said happy birthday.
Everybody sees how beautiful you are.
But the part I fell for
is the part most people have to earn.
The way you care for people
without keeping score.
The way you notice when someone's hurting,
and you get quiet and kind about it,
like it's the most natural thing in the world.
Because for you, it is.
You've carried things
that could have made you hard.
And you stayed soft anyway.
That's not weakness.
That's the strongest thing I know.
You make people feel safe.
You made me feel safe.
With you, I don't have to perform.
I can just be a man who loves a woman,
and that's enough.
And you have no idea
how much light you give off.
You still apologize for taking up space,
when the truth is
every room is better because you're in it.
I love the little things too.
The giggle I try to get one more time.
The smile I keep thinking about
long after we've said goodnight.
That girly part of you
I hope you never feel you have to hide.
But here's what I want you to hear:
You are loved in the details.
In the things I notice.
In the things I miss.
In the ordinary moments
when I wish you were here.
And now, forty.
Forty years of becoming
the woman I get to love.
Every season you've walked through
made you gentler, wiser, more yourself.
I wouldn't change a single one,
because they brought you here.
And here is where I found you.
I hope this next chapter
gives back to you
everything you've given to everyone else.
And I hope I get to be beside you
for so much of it.
Today, I hope you feel beautiful,
inside and out.
I hope you laugh until you can't finish your sentence.
I hope you feel cared for,
celebrated,
and seen.
Happy 40th birthday, Sarabeth.
My sweet girl.
My baby gal.
I'm sending you all the love
I wish I could give you in person.
I love you, baby gal.
And for me, you'll always be
la donna più bella del mondo.
