I am turning 40 on the 29th of December, and the older I get the more I realize how very blessed my life is and has been.

I have so many things behind me to ensure my relative health and success. I grew up with access to health care, a family that loved me, an abundance of food, free education, and a house to keep me warm, but something even greater than all of that, something that we usually overlook because so many of us have so much of it, is clean water.

I grew up with clean water. I could drink it, wash my food in it, bathe in it, and play in it without wondering where it came from or worrying about how much I used. I had no idea that it was the basic key to a good life.

So much of the world is without access to clean water, let alone enough water, and it means miles and miles of physical travel and work every day just to have enough to stay alive through the next day if it doesn't make a person too sick before they can go back for more. Without access, children are turned away from schools without clean clothes, potentially good food is contaminated by a dirty water source, parasites and other diseases take too many children before they're five years old.

I got to grow up to look forward to my 40th birthday in a place where water is as easy as a turned tap anywhere I go. I want others to be able to have at least the ability to drink without being poisoned by the only source that can sustain them. I want more people to have 40th birthdays like mine where they can find themselves still healthy and young and looking forward to a future where the water we give our children won't be responsible for their deaths.

So help me help 40 people gain access to clean drinking water for my 40th birthday. This is all I want this year. Pass it on.