Happy Birthday, Little Cuter

You were a wonderful and beautiful (if bald) baby.   

You were a happy and beautiful (if wildly tangled) little girl.

You brought sunshine with you as you turned into one of my favorite humans, talented enough to French braid the hair on one of the two marvelous children you've raised with SIR (one of your best decisions).

It's a new decade for you... a fact with which I am having some trouble.  Can all these years have passed since you were swaddled in the hospital's plastic casserole-on-wheels, frustrating your brother who wanted you to throw that crocheted ball back to him? 

I remember you climbing the steps on the Little Tykes slide and then on the super high dive; the images include sound and surroundings and feelings.... feelings like watching you saunter down the steps to the first day of second grade in a new school in a new state where you knew no one, yet confident that it would be okay.  

You think about who you are.  You always have.  And who you are is pretty special.  

Happy Happy Birthday, kiddo.