An Ode to My Daughter on Her 20th Birthday

Today is my favorite Daughter's 20th Birthday.....ok, she is also my ONLY Daughter. ;-)

I can't believe I have 2 kids now who are past their teenage years!
I feel so decrepit.....

Daughter has had a challenging year.
Lots of changes in her life the past 12 months.
School.......What direction to go in life......Health.......her Love Life.......Relating to her Family.....Friends.....Money.
We have been through it all this past year with her!

So on her 20th Birthday, I am looking back over how she....WE got to this day.

• This was the baby who despite a 4 day Blizzard in December of 1992 and a father with the flu, decided she needed to be born NOW!  6 hours to get out of the driveway and to the Hospital.  5 hours after arriving, Daughter made her appearance with one big push.  The doctor almost dropped her.

• This was the baby who didn't want to miss Christmas(presents) by arriving on her due date of Jan. 1st, so she decided to come 3 weeks early.

• This was the baby who was born premature with a hole in her heart, that we had to spend many hours in hospitals having tests done for her first few months of life, until the hole closed up spontaneously.

• This was the girl baby who arrived with little hair(unlike both her brothers who were born with long dark full heads of hair!)and probably still has glue on her scalp from many MANY bows being taped to her head so people would know she was a girl

• This was the baby who resembled Mr. Magoo until she was 6 months old and you have to work VERY hard to get her to smile.

• This was the baby who I could hold in one hand, like a football she was so tiny.

• This was the baby born with the under-developed nervous system who cried for 5 months non-stop.

• This was the baby who HATED having her head touched(still does)and would scream for an hour afterwards if you did.

• This was the baby who caused my brother to nickname me "Slugmama".

• This was the toddler who told me to send her baby brother back after his first 2 weeks home from the hospital.

• This was the toddler who talked rings around her older brother.

• This was the toddler who potty trained quickly and then decided she had had enough of being toileted and went back to diapers.

• This was the toddler who was eventually potty trained again and by my oldest bachelor brother, not her parents.

• This is the toddler who insisted the world was tactile and had to be experienced through touch and taste.  She put everything in her mouth until she went to school(including gravel, which she said didn't taste good but had a pleasing feel to it). She teethed on pork chop bones given to her by her beloved grandmother and she still has to touch everything she sees.

•  This was the little girl who had a special bond and went on "special vacation" with that grandmother.

• This was the little girl who we realized quite young that she was much deeper than most little kids because she said things that sounded like old men philosophers.

• This was the little girl who was the family instigator.

• This was the young girl who almost got asked to leave her parochial school in Kindergarten.

• This was the young girl who almost led a classroom coup and took over teaching her 1st grade class.

• This was the young girl who was painfully shy yet craved attention.

• This was the young girl who I was told had a promising career in....wait for it!.....bowling at a bowling birthday party.

• This was the girl who tested in school at genius levels.

• This was the girl who was accepted into the Gifted Program(even though the one here really had nothing to offer her).

• This was the girl who was too embarrassed by her "unorthodox" mother to have her be the classroom mom.

• Did I mention that she had a really special bond with her Grandmother?  This was the girl who had a hard time after her Grandmother died.

• This was the girl who placed into the C-Mites(it's a Carneige-Mellon program for advanced grade schoolers)for Math and Science.

• This was the girl who was/is the tallest in our family and towers over her siblings.

• This was the girl who was always on every Honor Roll, Honor Society, Special Achievement thing, etc., and got A's with little effort.

• This was the girl who was almost expelled from the public Middle School for being creative and not having any discretion and bad judgement in regard to people.

• This was the girl who felt deeply yet didn't let anyone see her emotions.

• This was the girl who joined the chorus even though she couldn't sing....well.

• This was the girl who took lead roles in Middle School musicals(how did she win them is my question?lol)and got up there and sold her performances. Every. Time.

• This was the teen girl who has had a hard time finding boys who weren't scared of her in her podunk little town.

• This was the teen girl who couldn't wait to get out of here and away from her parents.

• This was the teen girl who had a hard time admitting when she was wrong to anyone.

• This was the teen girl who fought a weight problem, even though she was just chunky and awkward for a few years when puberty hit.

• This was the teen girl who had a hard time sticking with a decision because so many options looked good.

• This is the teen girl who learned the value of a dollar after she got her first job.

• This is the teen girl who went many years avoiding having her picture taken until she got her braces off.

• This was the teen girl who could make an argument over ANYTHING and often did.

• This was the teen girl who we believe missed her true calling in life--to be a trial lawyer.

• This was the teen girl who had a memory like an elephant and if you ever wronged her, she never forgot.

• This was the teen girl who can kick my ass giving answers while watching Jeopardy!.

• This is the teen girl who thought the internet was an acceptable way to find boys to date.

• This was the teen girl who was very VERY challenging to parent and was anything but a normal kid to raise.

And a delivery man brought these to my door this morning.....

 They are from a boy in Louisiana, for my beautiful, fearless, smart, funny Daughter who is 20 today.

I can't wait to see what the next 20 years brings.
Happy Birthday!

Love, Mom