13

Look at you there sitting on the train tracks with our dogs at your side.    

It seems like just yesterday you were born.

You've filled our home with laughter, light and love ever since.  That laughter part is especially true between you and I. Sometimes we finish each other's jokes and giggle and snort so much that we forget the cause.  

You grow and stretch and change and gently cause our family to do the same.  And you keep me on my toes.  Like the time this summer when we were driving to pick your sister up from Driver's Ed class and you were telling me a story.  You kept talking.  I kept nodding.  And then you were laughing.  And I was questioning, what? What? What's so funny?  Apparently your story took a preposterous turn of finding a giant hamster wheel in the cellar and I proceeded to nod and agree.  I clearly wasn't listening and you knew it.

Your determination, competitive spirit, and natural athletic ability make you a force to be reckoned with whether on a playing field, classroom or everyday life.  Not in a watch-out-I'm-going-to-take-you-out kind of way.  Rather a come-on-join-along-and-be-awed-at-the-grace-by-which-I-achieve-every-single-thing-I-set-my-mind-to.  All while encouraging your comrades and making them feel like there isn't anyone else you'd rather be with.

I look into your brown eyes and my soul smiles.

Happy birthday sweet girl of mine.

I love you.

-Mom