Happy Birthday Tricia!
Thursday
August 16, 2012
Today, my oldest little girl is 19 years old. I have never known more of a survivor than this one. I joke on FaceBook about how she tried to kill me 19 years ago today, and she takes it in good humor. Tricia came into this world with a ruptured placenta and she didn't breath right away. A room full of people waited on bated breath for Tricia's first breath. In truth, it's a miracle either one of us is here today to celebrate any birthdays at all. For the first five years, Tricia was totally a Daddy's girl. When Tricia didn't sleep, neither did Daddy. There were a lot of "Nick at Night" nights for the two of them. But Daddy was pretty sick, needed a heart transplant and was too sick to get on the transplant list. One night, when Tricia was five, I asked her as I tucked her in, "Will you be okay if Daddy goes to heaven soon?" She thought for a few seconds, "Hmmmm... yeah". Some moments are etched in a mother's heart forever. Her Daddy died the next night. We call that day, his "birthday into heaven", and sometimes we even have a cake and sing happy birthday to him on the anniversary of his passing. In fact, Tricia helped pick his headstone which reads, "Born into eternal life". But life hasn't been just a bunch of sorrows for Tricia. When she was 13, she was a district and state champion in her sport, gymnastics. She has worked for her spending money since she was fifteen and she finished high school with several college credits already in her pocket. And now... the big news... drum roll, please... Tricia is giving us a grandson, due Christmas day. I chose this picture for today because of the silly expressions and the festive attire. Tricia is on the left with the multicolor lei and her friend Michelle is on the right in the pink lei. I took this shot before prom last year.
Happy birthday, Tricia! Life is such an adventure with you. I can barely wait to see what you have in store for me next!