Happy birthday, Kaia! We got you pipe cleaners

She will be thrilled. Short of actually hacking into a human brain and watching the process in real time --- which of course wouldn't happen because, if you actually hacked into the human's brain it wouldn't work anymore now, would it? so this really is better --- the best way to recreate the process of glycolysis is with pipe cleaners. On the wall. Kaia will be spending part of her 22nd birthday today -- December 9 -- glorying in the wonders of biochemistry. She just aced the test and says it is because she used the pipe cleaners to make three-dimensional diagrams of the processes and then put them up on the wall for her housemates to enjoy too. I too was there to bear witness and what this girl can't do with a diagram of glycolysis simply then can't be done at all. 22. 22 Decembers. 22 summers. 22 years of wide-eyed discoveries and 22 years of unexpected adventures and 22 years of carefully planned expeditions. She has made her way, discovered her way, followed a way forged by others, all of the above. She has decided that "to whom much is given much is expected," and that there is no way but "you make the way by walking," and that what the world really needs is someone who has come alive -- so figure out what makes you come alive and do that! I get all soppy and sentimental on the girls' birthdays. I have nothing profoundly poetic to say, nothing of that nature to do justice to the glory of their existing and breathing and singing and laughing and learning and loving. I treasure their being, their being alive, their being who they are. And so, Kaia, I treasure you. From Italy to Estonia, from Berlin to Paris, from South Africa to South St. Paul, you make the world better by offering yourself to it, by being part of it. From the funky lofts of Printers' Row to kid heaven in Naperville to life in Littleton, to the mountains and oceans and deserts that have called to you to explore, to learn, you have covered a lot of territory. But it's still just beginning. Can you imagine that? Twenty-two. I can hardly wait to see what evolves out of your interests and skills and talents and sense of responsibility. Choose, always choose what makes you come alive! And happy birthday! Have some chocolate. Love you, Mmo