Happy birthday, Sara.

I could have sent a message. A message gets scrolled past in three seconds, so I built you a sky instead.

Nothing here needs a reply, a caption, or a thank you. Read it at your own speed, and close it whenever you want.

Every light up there is one true thing.

Tap one. No order, no rush.

0 of 10 lit

You asked me to walk away.

You said it would be better to end the friendship now, before I did what everyone before me had done. You were not being cruel. You were trying to get the ending over with early, on your own terms.

I heard you. I did not go.

Not because I doubted you meant it. Because leaving was never on the list.

I am not going to ask you to trust me.

Trust is not a birthday present, and it is not a debt. You do not owe anyone proof that not everybody is the same.

If that ever becomes true for you, let it become true slowly, and let it be your own conclusion. Not mine.

Until then I will just keep being consistent. That is the whole plan.

رَبِّ اشْرَحْ لِي صَدْرِي وَيَسِّرْ لِي أَمْرِي

Rabbi-shrah li sadri wa yassir li amri

“My Lord, expand for me my chest, and make my task easy for me.”

Surah Ta-Ha 20:25-26

Room to breathe, and an easier road. That is what I am asking for you this year.

You are good to people quietly.

هَلْ جَزَاءُ الْإِحْسَانِ إِلَّا الْإِحْسَانُ

Hal jazāʼul-iḥsāni illal-iḥsān

“Is the reward for good anything but good?”

Surah Ar-Rahman 55:60

None of it is lost. Not one time.

Hold the light until morning.

Press, and keep holding.

Morning does not care how long the night was.

It does not ask what happened, or how bad it got, or whether you were ready. It arrives on time, every single day, for everyone.

You get one today too.

Happy birthday, Sara. May this be the kindest year you have had.

Faraaz

No reply needed. Really.