Wednesday, February 11, 2009

The joy of my life


solo post by L - T at age 2 / age 18

Happy Birthday Taylor!
“Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.”
- Dr. Seuss
Tomorrow is T's birthday - she'll be 19.
I'm not the mushy type and unfortunately I'm not eloquent either, so writing a birthday wish is hard for me. This will be the first year we haven't been together on her birthday. I don't know if that will bother her as much as it does me, but it's made me a little sentimental so I got out old photos. Remembering...... the Old MacDonald birthday party I had for her when she was 2, and the Nursery Rhyme party when she was 3 and we played "pin the mitten on the kitten" (my mom made her the 3 little kittens, stuffed dolls). When she was 7 I took her 6 friends to the circus. When she was 10 we had an old-fashioned bowling party - I made her a cute red felt skirt with a black pom-pom poodle and a black satin bowling jacket with her initials on the back - she wore her hair in a high pony tail. The other girls wore 50's attire and they had a blast - lots of giggles that night. When she was 11 she asked for money, in lieu of gifts, and donated $200 to help animals at Noah's Art, an animal rehabilitation center. When she turned 16 it was a big deal of course. I rented a limo to take the girls to the Hyatt Reqency downtown. The girls, in their fancy dresses, rode to the top of the town and had dinner up on the spinning blue dome, it began snowing as they had their photo taken with the limo driver once they arrived home. Inside I had a chocolate fountain with strawberries and angel food cake for dipping (they devoured it in less than 10 minutes I think.) Lots of chatter that night. Now she's an adult for the most part and parties don't include the parents. But as parents, their day is always special to us. In fact, I think as parents, our children's birthday is certainly more special than our own. For me, I know, the day she was born, was the day pure joy was brought into my life. She has been a continuous source of pride and delight for me and I grow more proud of her every day.
Sorry, Taylor, to have embarrassed you. Happy Birthday!!

13 comments:

Leacayoungart said...

aw so sweet.

Char said...

awwwwwwwwww, you're such a wonderful mom. She is just so gorgeous. I know you are both blessed with each other.

Unknown said...

pure undefiled love.

Anonymous said...

my baby boy, not so baby, celebrates his 19th tomorrow, right after two exams. good news, we can put away that bloody fake ID.

ELK said...

i understand
i celebrate
i ache
i smile
i wish
i know
i honor
i love

beautiful blues side by side

Sage Ravenwood said...

Happy Birthday Taylor! Loved the Dr. Suess quote! (Hugs)Indigo

Anonymous said...

That is so sweet! Your words of love are so beautiful. Happy Birthday to Taylor!

Cassaundra said...

this post really made me tear up -
what beautiful pictures of now and then.

thank you for wishing my mom a happy birthday :o)
i'd say you're pretty eloquent with words!

happy birthday to you, taylor!

Relyn Lawson said...

Oh, yes you are eloquent. Oh, yes you are. What a good mother you have been. I'm not talking about the birthday parties either. I am fairly certain they were wonderful and spectacular, fun and creative; just wonderful. I'm talking about something much more important. I'm talking about your heart.

I see so many parents who love their children. They really do. But. They don't cherish those beautiful little people. They don't breathe in the moments and count themselves blessed. At least, not in the same way we do. Too busy, to stressed, too overwhelmed by life. There are so many stories. Reasons.

But you. You know how to savor. And how to love deeply. And how to not smother.

Way to go, Mom.

Happy birthday, beautiful Taylor.

Courtney said...

This is lovely!

Anonymous said...

It is a lovely post! It makes my heart ache for you a bit because I know exactly how it feels to not be able to be there with your child for that first birthday apart. I missed my daughter's for the first time in 21 years on her last birthday. It's hard, but there does come a time...

Mother love can bittersweet, but so worth it.

Happy Birthday Taylor!

And Leslye, three words for you because I've met your lovely and talented daughter, " Great job mom!"

Wayfaring Wanderer said...

I totally had you pegged as the mushy type! :)

Happy Birthdy, T!

Woman in a Window said...

You don't get very sentimental? Good god! I cried over the Dr. Seuss quote. Really. I did. I take what is here and hold it up as a side by side (like your photos) to what is and might be with me and my daughter.

Oh, happy belated.

footnote

The photos on the left are taken by me, Leslye, the mother. The photos on the right are taken by my daughter, Taylor – unless otherwise noted. Comments are always welcome. thanks
If you care to visit, I, Leslye, have another blog - AutumnSun where I ramble around different paths and pleasures of my own.