Each child born changes the world

My daughter, Beth, is having a birthday on the first day of summer which happens to be Father’s Day this year. I have no idea what to get for her. In years past, I have sent a box of cake mix and a container of frosting along with whatever gift I had chosen. The reasoning was that if I couldn’t bake a cake for her, I could at least provide her with the ingredients to do it herself.

These days her daughter, Emma, is in charge of the cake baking and decorating. She is quite good at it. Beth’s sons, Jacob and Nicholas, don’t seem to want to mess with baking. They do like making bread with me, but with all the viruses, protests, and general unease these days, I will, once again, celebrate with her from afar.

Sometimes I wonder if it would be easier if we lived closer together. Then I think of my brother, Michael, who recently moved to Lynn, Indiana. That is about halfway from where he used to live to here. I see him even less now than before. The fact that he works insane hours doesn’t help either.

A few days before Beth was born my mother-in-law and I were picking strawberries at a local fruit farm. We were quite a pair. I was as big as a house and she was newly released from the hospital. 

On Beth’s first birthday her playmates and her grandparents were there. Subsequent years blended into one another, but there was always cake, company and family. Once she was grown, she arranged her own parties. These days she is likely to work on her special day. It seems that the day itself has less importance than it used to.

Yet, I always remember the day she made me a mother. It changed my world. Even after all these years, in my mind she is still a little girl. She is still the toddler who asked for a tea party when her friend came over. She is still the one who made friends easily and was always more comfortable in a group than I ever will be.

She is the one who once taught water aerobics to older ladies then complained that they talked more than they exercised. For a while she was a lifeguard who taught little kids to swim. She worked at a veterinary office and would wait until supper time to call and tell me all about the nastiest procedure they did that day.

She is the one who worked hard to get her nursing degree. She is the one who is calm when others fall apart. 

Somewhere, sometime, the focus changed from her to her children. On the rare occasion when she opens a “care package” she is surprised when she spots something for her in addition to all the odds and ends for her children. 

These days she is at the age where money is an appropriate gift. That is much easier to find than the usual presents. It is also more likely to be used. Personally, I don’t like getting money. It almost never gets spent on an actual gift. 

Each child born changes the world. A girl who was born on the first day of summer stole my heart the first time I saw her.

At that time I thought I couldn’t love her any more than I did at that very moment. I was wrong. Watching her grow into the beautiful woman she is today makes me love her more each day.

I sincerely hope that all of you will also grow into the wonderful person you were meant to be. After all you are somebody’s child.