Fun Fact: I've been sharing my birthday for years now. I contend that September 26th is one of the most popular birthdays in the US. I share it with my stepmom, who shares it with her twin brother (of course), and I've come across a dozen more people in my life that put 9/26/.... down for their DOB. September babies are special indeed, but us 26ers? We're awesome.

I've carried the spirit of sharing my birthday into my adult life by asking for donations in lieu of gifts these last few years. Three years ago, I asked you to help me build an elementary school in rural Cambodia to help fight human trafficking there. Two years ago, I asked to you help families like mine find equality by giving to the Human Rights Campaign. Last year, I started giving my birthday away here on charity: water, and found unexpected generosity in my friends, family, and one extremely awesome anonymous benefactor.

This year, I hope you'll join me in recognizing the importance of clean water for everyone. It's a simple concept that's so simple, it's easy to take for granted. But we know that every good thing we do, we can do because we have the basic building blocks to live each day. Without clean water, nothing we do would be possible.

25 is some sort of important milestone, I suppose - a quarter century on this fragile oasis we call home. And this past year has been an amazing one for me: I landed my dream job, saw my first and last space shuttle launch, and met literally hundreds of amazing people that I never knew before. A few in particular have inspired me to be a better person, and to try to find some way to make the world a better place each and every day that I'm in it.

So let's do it for the 25-year-olds and the September 26ers; for the big dreamers; but most of all, for the people it will help every day. $20 can give one person clean water for 20 years. $25 is the suggested donation, in honor of my monumental birthday. A special thanks in advance to everyone who contributes anything they can - and a super special thanks to those of you who have given to these causes year after year. You guys are the ones who make my birthday really spectacular!

Oh, and DFTBA!