Twenty-one years ago, at 4:12pm, I gave birth to a little girl. She was born with a dark brown mohawk. I'm not kidding. I full inch of hair on top of her head, and none on the sides. Her grandmother, upon hearing that I was in labor, immediately hopped in her car, and drove the 4+ hours from Michigan to Indiana, and walked in when she was 15 minutes old.
She spent most of her childhood under the belief that she was the same age as her twin older brothers-a full 22 months older. I have little memory of her crawling. As soon as she figured out how, she was running after her brothers. At 18 months old, she said her first sentence...and I remember it to this day. "Benny is burrowing my pi-yo." Though she had trouble with the words 'borrowing' and 'pillow', I was amazed. And sure enough, there was Ben, fast asleep with his head on HER toddler pillow. Such an amazing girl!
Then came the day when her brothers went off on the big yellow bus to preschool. She was mad! This was the day when she figured out she wasn't one of triplets. She stomped around all afternoon, until they came home. Then with a huff, she exclaimed that she was glad that was over. Oh, her face when she learned they'd be going back the next day!
Then there was the day she was in the doctor's office, when she was maybe 4. Her father pointed to a poster of a skeleton, and informed her that was inside of her. She said, "No. I have an Indian inside of me!" (her take on my explaining that there was Cherokee blood in our family).
There was the Christmas, where she and her brother Bob abandoned their new toys, and spent most of the day fashioning a two story treehouse out of cardboard boxes (for her Stacy dolls). It was fun to watch them working together, and going through a LOT of tape!
I've seen this girl grow from a young kid playing with Barbies, to a young lady playing a video game involving racing cars. She's gone from refusing to wear anything but dresses, to an over sized 'attitude' t-shirt style, to a fashion sense that involved kitty ears and a tail. (okay for youth group, but she always respectfully removed them before entering the sanctuary). Her style is ever evolving, but is always uniquely her.
She is an accomplished artist, in pencil, paint (you should see the paintings hanging in my house!), and on the computer. She is obsessed with all things Japanese, from the language, to the food (and now I love soba noodles because of her), to the toys (hello kitty, ball jointed dolls, etc). She is eccentric, has a wicked sense of humor, and a kind heart.
She is a beautiful soul, and I'm proud to have her as a daughter.
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