Birthdays are a time for celebration.

Some large and some small.

Each signifies a chapter in your life that begins and ends.

To signify the start of a new chapter in your life, you imagine a moment on a beach. The day is young and the sunbeams perfectly on the sand creating a sun-kissed hue. In your right-hand holds several strings to gold balloons that match your gold swimsuit. The balloons float gently in the air and the camera captures everything in a single second.

A vision is fostered in your mind and you perfect the vision over and over in your head until you see no other possible way for the moment to be.

You start to plan accordingly to have this moment as you envisioned it. You order the perfect swimsuit. Before you head out, you even put on a full face of makeup. You make sure you get enough balloons for the picture and even head to the beach early in the day.

Everything starts right. However, what you did not predict was how windy it would be in Florida during the middle of January.

Suddenly, the fear creeps in.

The voice inside your head murmurs that you were wrong.

You failed and the moment won't be perfect.

This fear starts to feel real as the wind swallows your breath and sends a chill through your entire body. You're frozen and you attempt to ignore the voice as the balloons attempt to escape your grasp in the wind.

You prepare to smile for the picture that you envisioned over and over again. Yet, your hair is in your face, the balloon strings begin to tighten around your fingers, and the pictures are definitely not coming out as you imagined.

All you can think is, this is not what you pictured. This is not what you planned nor desired. Here you are, looking foolish in the middle of the beach with a bouquet of balloons and you feel the urge to hide.

This happens frequently, at least in my head. How often do we attempt perfect moments? How easily do we allow ourselves to be disappointed with our high expectations?

I allowed myself to quickly lose faith at the moment because of a minor inconvenience.

I recall the ease I felt as my friend looked me in the eye and demanded me to get ready for the pictures. They assured me everything will go as planned and that the picture will come out nicely. They reminded me to still enjoy the moment even though it was not at all how I pictured, we could still see it through and make the best out of the situation.

I admire the patience they had at the moment to capture the shot that I had envisioned over and over again in my head.

It was a true act of kindness and patience.

It still came to life no matter how I imagined it originally. No matter how much we plan for something we cannot control everything in one moment. Control is hard to let go of when the world reminds you that you have none.

However, how you react whether it's standing on a cold beach for an hour to take pictures or trying to get sand out of your shoes. You do have control.

I believe the moment was made perfect through our determination and patience. Without being forced to stay and embrace my vision I would have never been able to look back and realize how worth it the picture truly was.