The Birthday Blog

I love having grown children. I didn't imagine I'd love it as much as I do but life is full of surprises and this is one of the nicest. Daughter2 is celebrating a birthday this weekend and she and her boyfriend are spending it at the lake. We had a celebratory dinner out last night followed by her favorite birthday treat- red velvet cupcakes.

With candles because you're never too old.

This morning me and my girl enjoyed leisurely cups of coffee on the back deck because when you have grown up children you sip coffee instead of itty bitty apple juice boxes. We talked about all manner of things because that's your reward for answering ten million questions in their toddler years. Conversation. And y'all! The conversations with your grown up children are so interesting. They are interesting and they know things and have opinions and they teach you things and make you think in ways you hadn't thought before.

This morning we covered, in no particular order-

the pros and cons of Hello Fresh, people who put their foot in their mouth and how to recover because it happens to the best of us, Thanksgiving travel maybe, aggressive hummingbirds, people who keep exotic pets and how that generally goes very wrong for them, allergies, Christmas plans, the cutest boy we know (her nephew, my grandson), how turning 27 doesn't feel like a big deal and how 57 does, our calendars, college football, funny things kindergartners say, baby showers, and more. 

As a bonus she recited for me the verses she had to memorize for her weekly Bible Study group (Isaiah 52:8-15), which I'm gonna go ahead and tell you are not verses that roll right off the tongue. Unless you're her. She might have sung it for me too because why not?

I wasn't sure I'd write a birthday post today, I mean I've been blogging for eight years so I felt like maybe there wouldn't be anything original to say, but then recently she mentioned how reading my blog on her special day is one of her favorite things about her birthday so there you go. Like I said grown up children surprise us in the happiest of ways.

And so in honor of her special day, here are 27 things about this girl that make my own heart want to sing.

She's darling
Funny
Smart

Determined
Resilient
and a teensy bit clumsy

She's her sister's best friend and a rockstar aunt

She loves Jesus
children
dogs
Netflix documentaries
and Diet Coke

She has style
self-discipline
eyes bluer than the bluest of blues
and a smile that lights up all the dark places

She is brimming with confidence
Takes charge in situations where somebody needs to take charge
and is brave in all the ways that count.

She cooks and bakes and is only slightly messy in the kitchen
She quotes Red Sox stats and the Bengals roster
can tell you anything and everything about sharks

She sings because she loves to sing

She chases her dreams
holds my hand
calls me Momma.

She gets me. This girl who came into the world late and loud, who velcro-ed her infant self to my person 24/7, had every nerve ending in my body on high alert as she ran (often literally) headlong into life as a toddler, who rolled with the changes and the challenges and whatever came her way as a teen, and who adults like a boss, is my hero.

I want to be her when I grow up.