So…today
I was emailing a friend who was talking about bringing my daughter a
gift for her new baby and also bringing her something for herself. I
told her that my daughter would appreciate anything that she did because
she’s just lovely like that.
Then some things kind of washed over me that I felt the need to
write about. Thus…you get this blog…with me…waxing poetic about my
eldest child.
I was 16 when I had her. Way too young to be a mother. But I had
my mom to help and my family rallied around me quite a lot. I was very
fortunate like that. Whatever my aunts and uncles may have thought
about me getting knocked up at 15 and keeping
the baby…they kept to themselves and they supported me on it and they
loved her right away.
I can’t take all the credit for raising her. My mom was a
tremendous part of raising both my kids but especially my daughter
because I mostly lived at home until she was 3. And the times during
that when I didn’t live at home, she spent a lot of time
with my parents. So my mom gets a lot of the credit. I finally
established and kept my own household from the time she was about 4 but
mom was always close by and heavily involved. My point is…between my
mom and I…we somehow managed to raise this truly amazing
girl-child who turned into this truly amazing woman.
On June 5th, she became a mother
herself. My grandson Blake came into the world at 4:29PM on that day,
weighing in at 7lbs, 2oz and measuring 19.5 inches long. He is
beautiful and perfect and I was head over heels in
love with him the minute I laid eyes on him. But that’s another blog.
This one is about my daughter and her unbelievable capacity to love
people. She loves with her whole heart. She is generous and giving
and affectionate. She tries to treat people the way she would want them
to treat her. She doesn’t hold back. She
is a good daughter…a good friend…and I think she is going to be
brilliant at this “mommy” thing.
She appreciates the small things in life. She doesn’t need
expensive gifts to appreciate you. She is as thankful for kind words
and love and hugs as she is of money or gifts. She is grateful for
anything she is given. Yes, of course she gets frustrated
sometimes because she puts so much out and gets little back from some
people. I can relate. I am the same way. But it never stops her from
being who she is. She doesn’t let life’s hardships stop her from being
this beautiful, giving, caring individual.
She has this indomitable spirit about her. She may get down about
things…but she will pull herself right back up and she will pull you
right up with her.
She is beautiful on the
outside…and on the inside. Her heart is so huge that I sometimes wonder
how she can carry it. And now there’s Blake. He is going to be an
incredibly loved child. He has a mommy and daddy who are head over
heels in love with
him and grandparents and great grandparents and aunts and uncles and
just a ton of family to love him. But most of all…he has my daughter.
He has this beautiful person to love him and raise him and teach him how
to have a tender and loving heart just like
hers. She will teach him about compassion and forgiveness and how to
love with your whole heart no matter how many times it gets broken.
He is a lucky child. I am a lucky mother…and now a lucky
grandmother. Sometimes you just have to stop and look around at this
crazy, messed up world…and realize just how blessed you are when you
have someone like this in your life.
I am truly blessed.
