My Daughter Birthday

My oldest child, daughter, turns 27 today. She was such a sweet baby, always happy and never fussy, even when she needed to be changed or was hungry. She rarely ever cried. I remember my Mother commenting on what an easy baby she was, and telling me that this was not normal behavior for babies. I didn’t really believe her until I had my second child. As my daughter grew up we had many growing pains within our family. A few months back I found this comment on a blog and it fit so much of what my oldest child means to me that I wanted to post it here.

“This child made me a mother. I have learned from her, tested my ideas on her, figured out what works, what was a good theory, what failed in the real world, and to ultimately throw all the parenting books away.

Sometimes I feel bad, since she is, and will continue to be, at the cutting edge of my parenting skills. Her brothers and sister reap the benefits of her trailblazing. By the time they get around to things, Tara had whacked her way through the parenting-ignorance-jungle and we’ve managed to make a little clearing.

There was a time I wondered why she was so headstrong, and what I could do about it. I know now, she needed that head full of concrete and stubbornness so we could all learn to be a family. A gentler, meeker child would never have had the strength to wield the machete needed to create parents from the raw materials she was given.

I will be eternally grateful for the wild, strong, obstinate, fiery, brilliant spirit that is my oldest child. She made me a mother.”

With my realization of time passing I reflect back on all the experiences that I had with my daughter, I’m honored to be her Mom. She has grown in to a wonderful young woman, wife and mother. As much as I miss the time I had with her at home. I also enjoy what our relationship has developed into, and hope that it will continue to grow and evolve into an even better connection.