Daughters...

When you find out a baby is on the way, you dream about the moment you will first see that little face, count the fingers and toes, enjoy the pleasure of holding your child for the first time.  Although there will be vague worries and concerns, for most women, pregnancy is relatively uneventful, a happy time of waiting and watching and wondering and eventually, a joyful day of birth.

Sometimes, life doesn't go as planned.

My daughter, due in April, was born too soon.  On this day 24 years ago, she rushed herself into the world, ready to start life, but unfortunately, not to start living.  She was fragile, not breathing, unable to sustain herself.  Her life started not with a celebration but with panic and an NICU.  It is not the ideal beginning.

But from those first fearful moments, she asserted her will.  She survived and thrived, growing into the smart, witty, interesting, beautiful woman she is today.  When I see her face, I see the grace of God, who allowed me to be blessed with her for my very own child.

She is a gift, a complicated, outgoing, energized human being, who has challenged me in every possible way over the years.  Her personality, so different from my own, has stretched me in unexpected directions.  She pulled me to Africa and Disney World and to the mountains in Colorado.  She pushed me into activities and events I would never have attended if not for her.  She frustrated and challenged me in ways I would never have imaged the first time I held her.  But words are inadequate to explain the blessings she has showered upon me in far greater measure.

She has been my team mate through some of the hardest moments of my life.  She has given me a reason to get up in the morning, and a reason to go on living.  She has seen me at my worst and seen my at my most vulnerable, and loved me unceasingly.  Through it all, she has inspired me to be the best version of me possible, because I am her role model, and she deserves me at my best.  She has given me grace over and over again.

I always say I never knew how much I needed my daughter until she arrived.  Now, I cannot imagine my life without her.  She is one of my greatest blessings, a priceless treasure sent straight from heaven, without whom I would be a lesser person.

Today, I am grateful for my daughter.  I am filled with thankfulness for every moment of the journey we have had.  She is a very special Child of God, and I have been deeply blessed.

Happy birthday, Sweet Thing.  I love you to the moon and back.