Nine years ago today a wee bundle of spunk and wit entered my world and rocked my universe. As a foreshadow of things to come, she did not make her entrance until she was ready. My due date was on May 2 ... yep, that's right. Check your calendar, Crafty made me wait 15 extra days! Knowing what I know now about this little gal I would have waited a thousand years just to have the opportunity to be her mom.
I have written a lot about Crafty and all her funny little Craftiness but for those of you with daughters, you know. You know all the joy and heart ache and hope and wonder, all of the emotional highs and lows, all of the madness, laughter and light that being the mother of a daughter brings into your life. Some days I watch her move through life and cross my fingers that she makes it through her day unscathed and other days I marvel at her resilience and fearlessness. She baffles me!
And for all the wonder and amazement I have while watching Crafty grow, Mr. Awesome experiences all that times ten. He grew up in a house of boys, little girls are an unknown factor, a huge freaking mystery and, I think, a little scary to him. Sometimes I watch him try to 'manage' her and laugh. She has him wrapped around her little pink nail polished fingers!
As I drove around today, picking up things for the birthday celebration this evening, I thought about Crafty, all that she is and all the hopes and dreams we've had for her from the start. Like a slide show, images of the past nine years passed through my mind's eye, in reverse. Crafty, hanging out with her friends this weekend, beaming in all her preteenness. Last summer at the beach with Bizzy riding on her back as she floated through the water, her first day of school and the purple Tinkerbell backpack that she proudly wore, four year old Crafty, dressed as Dee Dee Doodle, asleep on the couch, waiting for Mr. Awesome to come home one stormy night. Our wee bald baby girl, happily biting on her own toes, asleep in her Daddy's arms, bouncing away in her exersaucer.
All of these memories took me back, all the way back to the day we discovered we were expecting Crafty. It was two nights before Mr. Awesome left for a four month work assignment. I was feeling crumby and he insisted that I take a pregnancy test before he left. I did and it was positive. We Three were going to be We Four.
After hugging and laughing together, Mr. Awesome cleared the suitcases from our bed and had me lay down. He crawled into bed next to me but instead of putting his head on his pillow, he rested it on my stomach and began to sing. I laughed and told him that the baby didn't even have ears yet. He hushed me and said that she would hear him anyway then he kept singing.
This is what he sang to her on that night and what he still sings to her now...
Happy Birthday Sweet Girl!
What I wanted most for my daughter was that she be able to soar confidently in her own sky, whatever that may be.
-- Helen Claes
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