All The Pretty Things: Happy birthday to a friend

We all have our people. Call them what you will- the Tribe. Squad. Harem. Beloved And Highly Exclusive Throng Of Favorites. One of my tribe, she's a gem, a tiny nugget of wisdom with a name that is an adjective that only God could have planned would describe her perfectly.

They call her Grace.

In the same way that the grace of God has shaped my life in a million little ways, so has Grace changed me in ways that can only be from God. She walks in the light, following Jesus and glorifying Him, all the while having fun and occasionally making mistakes, like you or I or any other of our fellow human beings.

But Gracie, she's different. She does not need people. She is one of a handful of teenage girls who doesn't have to ask if she looks beautiful, because she listens to God. God, who tells her she is, of course, more radiant than the sun, and that her beauty goes deeper than her golden hair and the light in her *Asian* eyes.

Grace is secretly good with people. She says she has an aversion to them, making regurgitating noises in her throat when we talk about boybands and the moral decadence of our fellow young women. But, I have seen her reach out in compassion- quietly, rightly, just how she does everything else. I have been soothed by her while I cry, overwhelmed by my own existence and the cruel edges that have cut me in this fallen world. I have witnessed her makes small talk and give children the giggles and diffuse her seemingly endless supply of patience. She can avoid leaving the house, introverting as much as she pleases, but I know her capacity for idiots, and it's very high.

One of my favorite things about Grace is her sense of humor. When you know someone for more than your whole life, your mothers having met in a church nursery when they were simultaneously pregnant with children who were neither of you, your brains seem to grow together. And it is both the most wonderful, yet freakiest thing that has ever happened. It has reached the point where I can say one word, look at Grace, and share a dark bout of laughter, because our minds have fused together so seamlessly that the same things remind us of the same things- a private joke, a childhood memory, an obscure fandom reference. She is my mental Siamese twin, for which I am eternally grateful.

Gracie is a conundrum, a lovable bundle of contradictions. She is both sunshine and the silver moon, a beautiful piano concerto and the silence at dawn before the world wakes up, a productive young woman and a surly teenager who has to be dragged out of bed for school. And I know in my heart of hearts that she will go places. God could not have created this much talent in one person to not have her go out and impact the world.

She turns seventeen today, but when I look at her I see all of her past ages- 6 years old, make-believing Robin Hood's Children at Lyman Orchards, pretending to be the oldest son who dies taking care of everyone else while we contract scarlet fever. Aged 11, hair parted down the middle, her hands shoved in the pockets of a hand-me-down hoodie. 14, suddenly a very bright, budding pianist. Where has the time gone? It's still there. Our past selves live on inside of us, and as Grace enters her senior year of high school she goes with her name- grace. Dignity. An everchanging person with imprints from her former selves forever etched into the essence of her being.

So, happy birthday to one of my favorite people of all time. Here are a few things to make you laugh, cry, and maybe have a fantastic year. I love you, Grace-with-the-beautiful-face. DFTBA.