It is funny how things can just hit you while in the middle of day-to-day life. Today is Maddy’s 19th birthday and today is the first birthday that she and I have spent it apart. I realized this while walking into my office today,. . .and suddenly there was an answer for my melancholy. Our baby has grown-up and is living life as she decides. You think this would get easier after doing it so many times with our other children, but it doesn’t.
Maddy’s life began with a clear determination to do things her way. She was the only child who missed her delivery date by days. She was waiting for a time when her arrival would be notice: a scheduling that she determined and foreshadowing of our future. Unlike her tiny siblings, Maddy entered this world a healthy and bountiful 10 pounds 1 ounce; and with her first breath, she was ready to take on the world.
Maddy’s determination would serve her well in life, months battling colic, years batting night terrors, and one very long year battling cancer. She has felt the turbulence of friendships ending, the heartbreak brought on by boys, and the crush of having to work hard to prove yourself, if only for her own sake and no others. If you have meet Maddy, you know her determination will challenge you to listen, to seek fairness, and to work for understanding. As she has matured, I have seen her deep sense of sympathy; empathy and understanding nurture this determination into compassion. Her dream is to enter Human Service field, as a Child Life Specialist, and help children who are battling their bodies’ illnesses. Little does this young woman know how many she has already helped in her short 19 years on this earth. I hope she understands the light that she shines is by far one of her greatest gifts. Blessings!
But for today, I will honor Maddy by thinking of her as little wild haired girl ever ready to sing; You are my Sunshine, and run into my arms each night when I came home from work. Happy Birthday sweet Maddy, you are a beautiful woman. I treasure the secret laughs and tears we share.
Assignment: Lift up the lives of those who are young: and celebrate the needed changes they are making in this world.
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