Double 1's

Can it really be that another year has already passed? Wasn't it just yesterday I was sharing Madilyn's fabulous 10th birthday with you? And now, now today, she is turning eleven?

ELEVEN!!

Not sure how to take it. Just doesn't seem fair that she is no longer a baby. Wonder if that is why I dreamed about having a baby girl last night?

And no, that is not any kind of announcement. None of the sorts.

And don't even get me started on how I feel about the countdown to Middle School, just months away. I can hear the ticking of the clock, counting down the time to when I have to send my child, my only daughter, my innocent naive little girl into a school filled with raging hormones, rebellious teenagers, and semi-independent cell-phone carrying kids.

Tick-Tock. Tick-Tock.

But enough of my self-despair.

This is Madilyn's day remember.

So back to her.

I will try to put my feelings about the whole 11 business aside, and focus on her for a minute.

So Happy Birthday to my girl. It has been a long year, filled with ups and downs, and some pretty serious scares. When I think about what "could have been" I am overwhelmed with gratefulness for her health and strength and well-being. She has amazed me with her personal strength and her ability to remain calm. I know that this is a spiritual gift to her from her Heavenly Father, one that will serve her well as she grows and matures and someday sprouts her own wings and flies away. To know her is to love her. She is sweet, funny, goofy, innocent, beautiful and divine.

When I think of Madilyn, I still imagine her as this little girl.








But she is growing up, and now today she is eleven years old.


Happy Birthday Mack, Mackie, Macoroni, Macaroon, or as I called you when you were a baby, Pooh. I love you!