sixteen candles

My daughter turns 16 today. I look at her and marvel at the young lady she has become--beautiful, smart, caring, stubborn, strong willed, determined, and I realize that this who she has always been. We saw some of these characteristics the day she was born. She was stunningly beautiful (I know every mother says this--but it really is true ;)), and very determined and strong willed (she insisted on being born when she wanted, not when the doctors planned the c-section). All 16 years this has been who she is. She loves animals and became a vegetarian at age 6 (for about 6 months) and then again at age 11 or 12, and has remained one. She is totally committed to Judaism, especially the studying and worship. My daughter worries about big issues and does what she can to help. She is an excellent student and insists on taking the most difficult classes. By age 2 we could see she looked at the world in a mathematical way. Now she holds conversations with her cousins at MIT and Penn that I cannot even begin to understand. She challenges her teachers and sometimes gets into trouble for it--she has always been right in what she was challenging, but is learning how to do this in a more appropriate way. This is not a kid to mess with.

My daughter has always been her own person and sure of herself. As a preschooler she was demanding and bossy (she insisted that her class call her Kim, the pink power ranger, and they all did-without question). Now, she will not wear make-up or do much with her long beautiful hair (except when she gets it cut for locks of love-which she has done-twice). She told my mother that she does not think anyone should wear make-up--she likes the way she looks and she thought everyone should like the way the looked just the way they are. My daughter does not get this from me--I love make-up and enjoy the art project I do on my face everyday.

She has the baby loving, baby holding, animal loving, trait of all of the women in my family. And the analytical, precise, scientific way of thinking from her dad's side. She is never satisfied with an answer--she always has one more "why."

There are moments when she is so challenging on my patience that I can't wait until she goes to college. But I try not to think about her leaving, because I know I will miss her terribly. Now I miss when she would sit on my lap and snuggle into my neck and tell me she loved me and would live with me forever.

But I know, that tonight when I look at this incredible young woman, and I ask her to make the same face she did as a baby, she will scrunch her eyes and purse her lips and puff out her cheeks. And in my heart and mind I will see the pink cheeked beautiful baby that smelled so good and first took my breath away at 8:52 pm on October 30, 1992.