Yesterday she turned eight. Eight amazing years of her, and so many more to enjoy. I have been blessed with this child in ways I could never have foreseen and every day that I live and breathe I count myself lucky to be her mother. Once upon a time, before kids, I only imagined what it would be like to have a daughter. Little did I know that my imagination could never,ever come close to meeting my reality. In the best sense, my dreams of being a mom never conveyed the true depth of feeling my children would engender in my, nor did my happy fantasies touch on how truly hard it is to be a parent.
My Amazon Girl is an amazing person to know and to be around. Her disorders give her some degree of difficulty in her life and social interactions, but they also give her an intensity of feeling that when it is positively directed is amazing. She truly loves everyone she meets, and her joy at the simplest things is contagious. She is stubborn and strong and full of steam. When she is angry or sad she is profoundly so, but when she is happy it bubbles out of her as if she were a huge colorful fountain, spraying rainbows of enchantment over everything around her.
A few days ago I was agonizing over my hair. I asked her what did she think if I cut it short? She told me "I think it would look beautiful." So I asked if she liked it long, and the answer was "I think it looks beautiful!" "Does it matter to you whether my hair is short or long?" I asked. "No, mommy, I always think you're beautiful!" Warm, happy sigh. J and I have made so many mistakes in our lives and as parents, but clearly, we have done a few things very well. Either that, or she has the strength and beauty within herself to overcome us.
