December has been a month of celebration for us. We had Casie's birthday first, college graduation, and yesterday was Lindsey's 14th birthday. Hard to believe my "baby girl" is in junior high and is fourteen years old. She graciously decided to hold off on a larger birthday party this year until sometime in January. We'll have a group of friends over to our house then or maybe to another location. But with graduation added into the mix this year, December became overwhelming pretty quickly in the scheduling department.
She went with her dad to lunch and spent the afternoon with him, and they had a great time together. After I left the office, I picked up Linds and a friend, Alexandra, and we headed to Memphis for dinner and a movie. Listening to Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber on the way, I had alot of fun with those two girls in the car. Just listening to teenagers is a riot at times. We had a burger and fries at Steak 'n Shake, and then arrived at the movies too full to even get a popcorn.
As her dad and I were talking about Lindsey yesterday, we both traveled back to the day she was born. When she was born, she had Group B Strep and also pneumonia. My baby girl went straight from my arms to the NICU at the hospital. We could see her every 4 hours for 10 minutes. Linds came into the world not only very sick, but with alot of spunk. She fought hard those first few days, but she won. She's been spunky ever since. She's such a whirlwind, that sometimes I have trouble keeping up with her. She is a very social person, and likes to be around friends or family most of the time. There are times I have to make her slow down, and just have some time to herself. She looks at me with that look that only teenagers can give, but she goes along. She is a curious young lady, and has been since birth. She wants to see new things, go new places, have new experiences often. Life with Lindsey has been adventurous to say the least. She has a quick wit, and keeps me laughing alot. One of the things I'm the most proud of in her is that she is a person of compassion and caring for those around her. In her earlier school years, she felt bad that her best friend and our next door neighbor didn't receive an award at the end of school that year. Most of the kids seemed to have one at least ONE reward or certificate, but not Tate. We drove home, and she couldn't stop worrying about him. So, she marched into our computer room, and began to get on a program to design him a certificate. I went in there to help. We printed out an award for "Best Friend Ever" and she signed it, making it all official, and then marched straight next door to knock on his door and give it to him. I think it was one of the sweetest (and shortest) award ceremonies I've ever attended. But what a precious moment! His toothless grin stretched from one end of his face to the other, and he treasured that award. They promptly waved me off and then went off to play outside. She's always been that way, and we've come up with many things like that to do for her friends and encourage them when they are down. That makes her a pretty special young lady in my unbiased (ha) opinion.
So here's to you Linds...may your life continue to be an adventure...and may your inward beauty continue to shine. I love you!
