A different birth day

My lovely daughter had a birthday yesterday.  She turned 40.  It is almost unimaginable to me that I have a 40 year old grown up kid. Where did all those years go?  I remember turning 40 myself, and 50 and 60 and more, and each year it astounds me that another decade has zipped by.  But 40 years?

I won't bore you with memories of Jennifer when she was one year old or five or ten or 23.  Those kinds of memories are best told at the dinner table with family gathered around, mainly to make the birthday person a tiny bit embarrassed or possibly proud.  Memories can go either way.  But while I remember a lot of those 40 years, there is so much that I have forgotten as well.  Big blank spaces in her life that are so elusive to me now.  Is it that way with everyone?  We raise our kids while we are raising ourselves and so much goes on in our day-to-day lives that I guess it is no wonder that some of it fades away.  But I wish it wasn't so.

I know Jenn doesn't read this blog very often but if she did, I would simply want to tell her how happy I am she is the daughter I have.  Wherever her spirit came from, I am so glad it came to rest in her and that she came alive with us.  Our life together for the past 40 years has been contentious at times, that's for sure!  But it has been full of love, too, and no one can be anything but grateful for that.

Happy Birthday, my best girl!

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