From the Desk of the Birthday Fairy
My dearest …,
I keep the candles, which means I keep the count, which means I am the first to know. This morning your number went up. It now reads ****, and the name beside it is one I am very fond of: .
People will tell you all day that you have grown, and they will mean how tall you are. I mean something else. I have the whole year on file, , and I can tell you the part that actually counted: . Nobody gives a medal for that. I am giving you a letter for it, which lasts longer.
There is a rule about the candles that I should explain, since it is my department. The wish does not work because of the flame. It works because for one second, with everybody watching and nobody speaking, you have to decide what you actually want. Most people go their whole lives without being made to do that even once a year.
So take your second. Do not rush it and do not waste it on something small. Then blow them all out in one go, because you can, and because it is your morning and I say so.
and the very best wishes I have —
P.S. — If one candle refuses to go out at first, that is not bad luck and it is not a trick candle. That is the year being slightly reluctant to end. It happens with the good ones.