One Better

My little girl turns 11 today. 11.

I can’t say 11 without thinking of Nigel the rockumentary Spinal Tap. It’s that scene where he talks about the volume of the amps:  “Most amps go up to 10, but these go to 11. You see, it’s one louder.”

One louder.

And so it is with E. 11. She’s one louder, one bigger, one smarter.

We went to the doctor’s this week, and E and I waited in the same exam room that we were in on our very first trip to the doctor, now almost 11 years ago. She sat on the table, long legs dangling off the ends, her body sitting up straight.  I looked at her, totally amazed that this is the same being that use to lay cooing on the the exam table take up all of two feel of space.

It made me realize how much I have been witness to in the past 11 years. I’ve watched E grow from baby to toddler to kid to Little Miss. I’ve gotten to see how E can make a friend and be a friend. I’ve watched how her curiosity and openness lead her to trying new things - rock climbing, Irish Step dancing, violin. I have seen her struggle and struggle and keeping struggling.  I have listened with love as she teaches me the lessons that she herself has learned. I have felt her compassion for me, for our family and for the world around us. And I’ve heard about 1,356 knock-knock jokes.

I celebrate all the ways E has changed over the past 11 years, but I also take such joy in the qualities she has held onto. She’s like a tree - her growth, her changes, her lessons learned have created these beautiful new rings, yet at the center of her is still this loving, beautiful core that feeds the outward growth of her rings.

Like all her birthdays,11 feels big, feels like we’re heading into some dramatic - which I mean literally - changes. All I can hope for is that we both hold on the goodness of her core and the lessons of the last 11 years.  I think we will.

In the meantime, we'll celebrate all that 11 holds. Happy Birthday, my little girl.
Welcome to 11. It’s one better.