My Darling Daughter

Today is my daughter's birthday. I won't tell you how old she is. I don't think she would like that very much. She feels she is getting old fast and I think she is younger than springtime. Suffice it to say she is in her twenties.
I remember the day she was born. I was having induced labor so I had an appointment for Monday morning, September 21st. We watched an old repeat of the Jefferson's where there son's wife was having a baby and waited and waited...they forgot all about us and our 8 am appointment so Meg didn't arrive until around noon! That was the last time anyone ever forgot my daughter!! The anesthesiologist told me she aw a boy but the doctor scoffed and said OH NO IT ISN'T and I welcomed my baby girl into this world.
She has been a joy and a pain. She has made me laugh and made me cry. She is an actress and a truth seeker. She is funny and sad. She is smart and naive. She can talk your leg off and she can be quiet and pensive. She has a gigantic, expansive love for her family members. She is a shopper and a spender and a saver. She can laugh heartily and cry until she breaks your heart. She has a ton of friends and sometimes feels lonely living far from home. She has been my best friend and my worst nightmare. (Oh honey, if you ever read this, you were only my worst nightmare a couple of times and not for long.) She could make me feel guilty and she could make me prouder than I have ever been. She has been a playmate and a nemesis to her brother and now a great friend. She thought her dad was Superman when she was growing up and now she knows he is just human but she loves him just the same. She doesn't stand for bul****it but she knows how to sling it. She understands kids and that adults are just big kids. She is responsible and silly.
In other words, she is a human being.
We are really good friends. We like to shop and we can talk on the phone for hours. We can discuss Hollywood and films and fashion. We can discuss family crises and dissect the world's problems and solve them. Mostly, we like a lot of the same things. We always seem to be dieting at the same time and working out at the same time at the gym. I send her silly emails to her workplace to share with her girlfriends there and she doesn't mind--they all like it!
Her birth solidified my place in life as a wife and mother. Her brother taught me how love could be all encompassing and she taught me that there is always room for more love to take and to give.
Happy birthday, dear one. Hope it is the best yet.