...but there is one thing that I haven't done
so here's to starting new, to second chances, to skies of blue. here's to mulligans and do-overs, to hot wheels and land rovers. here's to trying new things, to taking chances, here's to laughing at jokes that nobody else gets, here's to finding that happiness is not something that you find, but rather something that finds you. here's to road trips and skinny dips, to sunsets and sunrises on opposite ends of the earth. here's to the way you felt when you realized that you were experiencing your first crush, and here's to the way you felt when you slipped that ring on her finger in front of all of your families. here's to first corinthians thirteen, to the twenty-third psalm, to John, 3:16, and of course to Genesis 1:1 and Revelation 22:21. here's to darwin, to brahmins, to farmhands. to slavery, to emancipation, to homicide and spermicide. to error, to fault, to mistakes. to learning, recovering and rebuilding. here's to God and Jesus and Allah and Yahweh and Mohammed and Buddha and Tom Cruise. here's to who we were and the times that allowed us to be who we were. here's to who we'll be and the wonders that we'll see. here's to taking risks, to aiming for the hole instead of the three-foot circle around it. here's to missing shots, dropping passes, and tripping over your own feet at the two-yard line. here's to sooner and to later, to better late than never. here's to triskadekaphobia and arachnaphobia, to claustrophobia and xenophobia. here's to clouds placed perfectly in the sky that only you can see, and to that time when you wish you had your camera to capture it. here's to all the times that you had your camera, and the occasions that allowed you the chance to take pictures. here's to dressing up and dressing down, to falling in love and to leaving town. here's to your first heartbreak and your last, to your first middle school romance and your last high school date. here's to prom, here's to ball, here's to semi-formals and the chicken dance. here's to graduating with a doctorate in biomechanics to accompany your master's in aeronautical engineering. here's to the electric slide, a dance that nobody ever really understood but still can't keep themselves from doing. here's to the macarena, a dance that nobody really wants to understand or dance to. here's to barbie girls, to material girls, to california girls and uptown girls, to american girls and american women, to hollaback girls and brown-eyed girls, to rich girls and are you gonna be my girls, to jessie's girl, to that girl, to promiscuous girls and cover girl, and of course to the weather girls. here's to everyone everywhere that will spend tonight wishing that they could be someone they aren't, and to everyone everywhere that will spend tonight wishing that they could be with someone they aren't with. here's to those special someones who could make their admirer's lives immeasurably more beautiful with only a smile, but are afraid to smile themselves. here's to smiling, and laughing, and those who do too much of it. here's to the first time the ice cream truck comes through your neighborhood each summer, and the last time the plow comes through each spring. here's to the teacher who made you cry, and here's to realizing, two or three years later, that they did it for a reason. here's to crying, to hard times that make the good times seem that much better. to sunny days, to summer days, to the dog days. here's to disney movies and the big kids who, at 20, still watch them religiously. here's to everyone who can quote every one-liner from anchorman and makes sure that everyone is well aware of their abilities. here's to not knowing what tomorrow's going to bring, but knowing that as long as you're there to see it begin, it's going to be a good day. here's to hockey season, here's to graduation season, here's to moving on with the rest of your life. here's to everyone everywhere working to make a difference in the lives of those around them, and having an impact, even if they aren't immediately aware of it. here's to making up words to songs you don't know the words to, just because you want to sing along that bad, and here's to not keeping hush when you want to sing at the top of your lungs. here's to living, to every little thing that makes each and every one of us and each and every day that we live through unique. here's to the blessing that is the beauty and arrogance of youth, and the blessing that is wisdom and humility of old age. here's to youth, and here's to old age. and here's to being stuck somewhere in between, old enough to know better but too stubborn to admit to that understanding. here's to smuggling french wine on a plane that no liquids are allowed onto, and to drinking it at 8 AM, because, hey, it's five o'clock somewhere. here's to the absolute best days of our lives, to spending them with the best people on earth, and to making the most of time before time runs out. here's to all the times when we mean to say thank you but it eludes us. here's to thank yous and i love yous. and here's to love. here's to believing in yourself and believing in the world around you, and here's to the world around you believing in you back. and here's to you.