“Some souls arrive to teach love by living it out loud.”

Forty years ago, the world shifted quietly and everything began again.
The first heartbeat I ever heard outside my own was hers, the beginning of motherhood, of awe, of endless learning.
She grew beside my becoming.

From her earliest days she carried calm strength, the kind that notices rather than reacts.
She stood where others turned away, listening before deciding, steadying those who lost their balance.
Through laughter, through challenge, she never stopped loving.
She gives space where it’s needed, grace where it’s rare, and courage where it’s called for.

She has worn many titles, student, friend, wife, officer, mother of three, sister, daughter and in each one she has remained herself:
brave, intuitive, fair, and radiant with a “Lovely” rhythm of her very own.
She faces danger for strangers, then returns home to teenagers who see what perseverance looks like.
She writes me notes that still sound like the child who used to pick me dandelions from anywhere.
Time has moved too quickly, but love has never aged.

So today, the celebration is not only for the woman she’s become,
but for the light she’s kept alive in every role she’s taken on.

“At forty, she doesn’t chase approval, she lives in the peace of knowing herself.”

“Forty Flames”

Forty flames now dancing,
each one shining true
patience, laughter, courage,
the love that carries through.

A daughter first, then leader,
a mother brave and kind,
a heart that holds its center
while giving space to find.

She meets the world with open hands,
with duty and with grace,
her spirit builds a safer path
for every life she’ll face.

So here’s to forty circles, round
the sun that lights her way,
may every dawn reflect the truth
she’s loved in every day.

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-Kerri-Elizabeth- (Always a Mom first)
Tomorrow, November opens wide again, carrying her light forward, reminding us that renewal is never finished, it only changes form.