For Lauren....

Jan 8, 2005

Dear Lauren,

Wow, here we are, 21 years later already? I’ll try NOT to get TOO mushy, but it seems just like yesterday I was getting up early on this day and getting ready to meet you face-to-face for the first time!!

How can I possibly tell you what it means to me to be your Mom? I can’t – and even if I could, you wouldn’t believe me anyway (which is fine). It’s too hard to understand until you have kids of your own (plenty of time there – NO HURRY, ha!).

I am truly so proud of you and I really like knowing you, to boot! Not a lot of moms can say that about their kids – sure, they ALWAYS love them, but to like them – that takes something really special!!

I really wish I had some profound words to give you or the secret to success or life or love – or whatever it is you most want - but I don’t. All I can tell you is that I will love you forever and that I will always be here for you – even if it seems sometimes to be the other way around (and thanks for that too, by the way).

I want you to have my add-a-pearl necklace. It is fitting that it just happens to have 21 pearls on it. You are as precious to me as any pearl – and even the story of how a pearl comes to be is appropriate when I think about you. It’s not like an oyster is a very pretty thing to begin with (me being the oyster, lol), and then comes a grain of sand or something else irritating and not really very remarkable to begin with. But given enough time, and care, and glossing over, something rare and beautiful is created – something that men risk life and limb to possess, reaching to great depths to discover it and once found, cherishing it for life.

Don’t you EVER mistake – your day is coming sooner than you might think – you are growing and changing in so many positive ways every day – I can see it happening right before my eyes!

HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY – I LOVE YOU LAUREN!!!!!

The Birthday Girl, Herself!