March 17

Today I'm grateful for another birthday - my twenty-fourteenth. And for Mike, who sent me to work today with sugar cookies with shamrocks on the top...to share with the other kids. Even though he's taking his life in his hands by asking me how old am I - followed by asking how old he is. Sometimes it's hell being married to someone a week younger than you. Feh. I try to explain that what's cute when you're 22 does not translate when you're 20-14. One day he'll learn - I think.

"Christ shield me this day: Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ on my right, Christ on my left, Christ when I lie down, Christ when I arise, Christ in the heart of every person who thinks of me, Christ in the eye that sees me, Christ in the ear that hears me" (from "The Breastplate of St. Patrick").