When I first started writing this reflection, I wanted to list 35 lessons in honour of my quintricennial - surely I could come up with at least that many reasons to have tumbled and stumbled through the last few decades of my meagre existence. But, as I started transitioning into my new life half way across the world and grieved the passing of my grandfather, whose funeral fell on my birthday, I realized that everything I had listed could be distilled into one profound phrase I heard in a sermon last year: "In the end, it all comes down to love."

Love is all-encompassing and always waiting to make itself known to us in the unlikeliest of places. It is the "Welcome Home to Pakistan" gift basket of assorted childhood favourites at your doorstep, it is the stranger sitting next to you at the movie theatre who offers up his popcorn, it is the Gen Z kid at the library who presses some buttons on your laptop to make it magically work again, it is your neighbour dropping off breakfast after you've survived a flu-ridden night, it is that darn annoying Whatsapp notification that buzzes throughout every time zone and happily interrupts your work flow, it is miles of blue that flow from Khanpur Lake and through your heart's deepest desires for peace amidst all of the people you have and will encounter on your journey.

It is the generations of Lakhanis and Panjwanis and Bhanjis and countless others that have paved the way for your existence today to be a meaningful one by declaring:

I'll love you when you succeed.

I'll love you when you fail.

I'll love you when you try.

I'll love you when you're brave.

I'll love you when you're afraid.

I'll love you when you're far.

I'll love you when you're home.

I'll love you without any reason and for every season.

Go on, now, kid, you've been protected and defended and spoken for.

So, as I lay sprawled in front of all the pieces of life advice I had read, received, and experienced the hard way before it made its way onto my draft, "Replace All" felt like an inevitable course of action.

In the end, all of the mantras on trusting myself and my path came down to self-love. Those on forgiveness, mercy, and generosity echoed love for others. And, everything beyond my grasp, I can attribute to divine intervention. 

So, in the end, you see, it all comes down to love. I have learned nothing of greater significance in my life, and I hope it is a lesson too late to grow out of now.

A big thanks to everyone who has carried me half way to 70. I hope the load will be somewhat easier going downhill from here.