I Get To Because…

There are so many ways this phrase can be completed.  The original thought for me comes from a card I got on my 40^th birthday from my friend Chad Zepernick.  14 years ago. and it’s still my all-time favorite birthday card.  It says “I get to because it’s my birthday”.  Here’s the card: 

Chad did a great job picking this one out, knowing that my favorite color is purple, and that I can be kinda offbeat at times, which partially explains the friendship. And the shoes are sparkly.  It's still on my refrigerator.

One of the things "I get to because it's my birthday" is have Corn Flakes & vanilla ice cream for breakfast. We were at grandma & grandpa Welch's for my 5th birthday and grandma said that I could have anything I wanted for breakfast.  She was most likely thinking something like pancakes, waffles, or some other "breakfast" food; but me being me and having a massive sweet tooth as long as I can remember, said "ice cream". Mom said I couldn't have it, but being the brilliant, and somewhat precocious & manipulative child that I was, I replied "But grandma said I could have a-n-y-t-h-i-n-g [emphasis mine], and grandma doesn't lie". The compromise was that I could have the ice cream if I put cereal on top of it. All grandma had for cereal was Corn Flakes & Grape Nuts - and since Grape Nuts was the 'old people' cereal, Corn Flakes it was... and a tradition was born. After that grandma was more careful about how she phrased things.  I also heard a comment that I wasn’t meant to hear.  Grandma told mom, “You’re gonna have your hands full with that one.” As I look back, she wasn’t wrong.

I use the card with the sparkly purple shoes as my Facebook profile pic on my birthday.  My cover photo, however, is reserved for Flag Day, which also happens to be today. Side note: I grew up thinking they put the flags out along Main Street for my birthday.  For those who may not be aware of what Flag Day actually is, it commemorates the adoption of the flag of the United States on June 14, 1777 by resolution of the Second Continental Congress.  It ties into another “I get to because…”  I get to have the freedoms of this country because one of my ancestors moved here from Germany, and his son fought in the Revolutionary war.

 

There are so many other “I get to because” statements, but the most important one is “ I get to have eternal life because I accepted Jesus as my Savior”.  It pretty much makes them all possible, so I’ll leave you with that statement.