Today Madeleine JoHannah is 16th years old. For now she hates her name but I love it. I find her name as unique and beautiful as her. We tend to call her Maddy, MJ, Madds, or Madster for short. For a time we called her Chicken Little, I don’t remember why.
Maddy has always been a special child. She is determined, confident, compassionate, and assertive. These are great leadership skills for an adult; we don’t really worry about her being successful in the future. While these skills are blessings for a young woman – they are often challenging for parents of teens. Every day we are learning how to make this work better.
Maddy weighed 10.1 lbs when she was born. She was three days late (and my only child who was late) for her arrival into this world. She could form simple sentences by the time she was a year old but didn’t take her first step until she was 18 months old. She didn’t have to, as the youngest of six children she just told people what she wanted and they got it for her.
When Maddy was a toddler she was a true performer. She had loved to sing “You are my Sunshine” and she had a special dance that she would perform on command. Her favorite joke was to tell people, “I’m not your friend anymore . . .CRY”. As mean as that sounds, it was funny and true. Maddy instinctually knew that if you were not her friend, you would cry because you would be missing out some a good thing.
When Maddy was in forth grade her principal shared that whenever she and her friends would have an argument it troubled Maddy so deeply that she would call a meeting. Maddy would ask the principal to bring the girls together so they could voice their concerns and solve the true problem at hand.
In Middle School and High School, Maddy has successfully negotiated a better grade with teachers. If the grading was objective and Maddy found the teachers objectivity differing from hers – she would call a meeting so they could voice their concerns and solve the true problem at hand. You read a theme in this?
This past year, Madd’s had a tutor for Algebra. She wanted a better grade and took it upon herself to apply for a tutor. She told us that there was a brief period when the tutor was not meeting her standards and she was afraid she would need to fire him. They worked the problem out and she was successful in the class. Madd’s is probably the ONLY high school student who begs her parents to go to conferences. She is proud of the work she is doing. Good grades to not come naturally for her, she works hard for her GPA but she does it because she has a final goal in mind: college/career of her choice.
I have a zillion favorite stories about my sweet baby girl but I will only share one more. Throughout Maddy’s childhood, every night when I would come home from work, Maddy would throw open the screen door, run down the porch steps, and come running into my arms. Just thinking about her beautiful smile and pure happiness to see me brings tears of joy to my eyes. What a precious gift I have been given!
Happy Birthday Sweet Baby Girl, you are a blessing to many and a gift to this world.
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