Happy Birthday Princess

I decided this was a good day to continue highlighting the bad things about living in Alaska and the absolute worst thing about living in Alaska is being a ‘million’ miles away from my precious daughter…

Today is a good day to blog about this for several reasons… the first being that I bought Kleenex so I am prepared… but I am hoping I won’t need them, due to the fact that in just a few hours she and her husband will be here! Woo Hoo!! Another good reason is that tomorrow we will not only celebrate Father’s day, but also Rachel’s 20^th birthday! And the best reason for blogging about this today is…. she’s on an airplane, then she’s going to be on a glacier cruise, and then maybe hiking, fishing, running from bears, etc… it could be days before she realizes I’ve done this so I might actually be able to get away with it…

It seems like yesterday she was that sweet little girl all dressed in ribbons and bows (the fate of every little girl whose mother loves to sew). Some of my fondest memories are of rocking her to sleep as a baby (yes, I broke the cardinal rule and am proud of it!) of how she loved to play dress up, and the giggling in the middle of the night with her friends. She was always quiet and sweet on the outside with just a bit of the ‘devil’ in her, usually seen only by those who knew her well, but always there just waiting for the opportune moment to strike… at least some things never change!

How quickly those days turned into more giggling in the middle of the night, more dressing up – if only I could post the 13^th birthday pictures – but I dare not! And even in those days of ‘tug of war’ when she was a little girl one day and a young woman the next, she was the joy of my life. The memories of exploring castles, and 'going ape' - watching her stretch her wings a bit at time. And then all too quickly she was grown, and we were planning a wedding (Maybe I do need that box of Kleenex)… one of the best and worst days of my life thus far!

After nearly 2 years, I still miss her terribly, but feel so blessed to have her in my life! I had almost gotten used to the idea of her living 7 miles away when we got orders to Alaska… Although ‘letting go’ has been the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do in my life, I find peace in knowing that God is good and is watching over her and I have such joy in watching her grow into the lovely woman of God that she is today and is becoming. I am so proud to call her my daughter and also my friend!

Happy Birthday Princess!