Dear Avery, Seventeen years old! What in the world can I write to you that you do not already know about yourself?!? It is kind of amazing how once your personality shone through that I could pretty much copy and paste from recent years' birthday posts and it would probably hold true today. But I want to dig deep over the past year and hold a mirror up to you so that you can see what I see; the evolution to an even more incredible version of yourself. Because one thing I know, is that over the past year you have lived life on your terms. Has there been fighting? Yes. Crying? That too. More good days, than bad? Absolutely. So, I've decided to show you a year in the life by simply reviewing a year of my digital photo albums as I write - noting that these are the events worth photographing - it goes something like this: May 2024 - We finished shopping for sophomore semi formal dresses; you officially got your permit and started driving school lessons. You bid Alex a fond farewell...
Dear Alex, Happy 21st Birthday! Typing this feels unbelievable as it is inherently American to believe that a person is a true and complete adult when he reaches the age of 21. (Of course, us mamas like to hold onto the fact that your prefrontal cortex wont fully develop for another four to five years, which means, thankfully, that you will still need us.) And yet there has been tremendous growth over this past year. When you turned 20, I was intimately involved in the day-to-day aspects of your life. It was a privilege to talk to you daily about general nonsense aka "stuff and things". The reality was that the daily check ins were a necessity to combat my own fears, to make sure I was doing my job as a parent to help you grow into a healthy and content adult. I am still here, a year later, to catch you if you fall, however you have learned the skills, you have the skills to catch yourself. So far there hasn't been a stumble, or maybe ther...
Dear Avery, Happy 18th birthday! I haven't seen you yet today because you have spent the past week doing business lady stuff with school and are currently on a flight home from Atlanta. But still, you asked would I decorate your bedroom door like I have done since you could walk, even if you weren't here to wake up to it this morning. (Of course I will! And bonus points that I could get it done the day before without any time pressure.) As you turn 18, this theme of grown up girls, not being as grown up as they think and still needing their mamas is one that I would like to explore with you in more depth. When you google "what every 18 year old should know", you get lists ranging from 18 (cute) to 100! These are life skills that I am proud to say you (and Alex) both have. You can sew a button, follow a recipe, make a doctor appointment and do the laundry. You can also change a light bulb AND change a diaper - the latter a skill that I did...
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