Start of summer holds special joy

Summer is almost here, it arrives on my daughter Beth’s birthday.

I know that the weather has been summery for awhile but officially, it is spring for a couple more days.

I still have to send money to my son-in-law so he can buy the orchid Beth wants for her birthday.

She is one of only two people I know who can get an orchid to re-bloom and thrive. The other one buys, grows and sells the intricate plants for a living so I’m not sure he counts.

I have tried growing them but experience tells me to not bring them home to face a lingering death.

I would much rather be there to give her a present in person. This year it isn’t possible for us to travel that far right now. We may try it later in the summer but plans have yet to be made. It seems that the older we get, the more challenging life becomes.

I am amazed at how old she is. It seems like only yesterday that she was a toddler begging to have a tea party. The day after that she lived in her bathing suit for weeks at a time, changing into real clothes just long enough to attend Bible school with her friends. Then she was a beautiful young lady posing for prom.

I turned around and she was in her wedding dress, dancing with a bevy of little girls like some kind of fairy queen. I blinked and she was bringing home her newborn daughter who was soon joined by two little boys, one after another.

Along the way, she has been a classroom helper, veterinary assistant, lifeguard and nurse. She has collected friends, pets and strays of all kinds. She has often made me prouder than I could ever have imagined.

Isn’t that what we all want for our children?

We want them to experience all that life has to offer. We want them to be healthy, happy and well-adjusted.

We want to be able to brag about them. We want them to find their own paths through this thing we call life.

I worry that today’s children are being taught the old prejudices that I once thought were dying. I worry that they might take to heart all the nastiness they hear on the news. I am afraid that they will believe that it is acceptable to call people names and ostracize them for any perceived imperfection.

I want all children to have the chance to grow up to gather friends and strays. I want the little girls to have their own chance to dance like a fairy queen. I want the little boys to have the freedom to know that girls are not so different from boys. I want them to love their own babies someday. I want them all to be healthy, happy and cherished.

Daughters grow up to have families of their own. Parents get creaky and slow down. Summers come and summers go.

It has been said that the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Beth will celebrate her birthday on the first day of summer. Her children and the rest of her family will be there to share her happiness. I will be as close as the telephone line, oops, I mean cell tower.

Children of all ages have birthdays. But mine was born on the first day of summer.