A Letter to My Senior
This is a sponsored post.
Hey Baby Girl,
I can still remember the day that we found out we were expecting you. We planned for you and even knew what date we wanted you to be born May 5. (A Cinco de Mayo baby would fit right in with your sister’s birthdays. Maddie’s being Mexico Independence Day and Mikaela’s being Benito Juarez’s birthday.) We thought it was only fitting for you to have a birthday on a Mexican holiday because you are part Hispanic. And now how can it be possible that you are finishing your senior year?
I remember When your daddy and I were planning out when to have our next child, we knew we wanted to keep the tradition of Mexican holidays alive. But boy did you have other plans? I went into the hospital on Cinco de Mayo to be induced because you were already 3 days late and I was miserable. You had the habit of sitting on my ribcage and not letting me breathe.
Since you were our third bundle of joy we totally thought that your delivery would be as easy as Mikaela’s was. But boy were we wrong. After rough labor, you finally arrived but on your own timetable, twenty-six minutes after midnight – to officially not be born on May 5. We should have known then that you would walk to the beat of your own drum.
You have never ceased to amaze me with how content you are to the one to NOT follow the crowd. I admire your spirit, your creativity, and most of all your heart. You have seen more things in your life that few others will be able to claim. Going through an illness filled younger years with IBS and even an overnight hospital stay only made you stronger.
You took on being the youngest like a champ with your sidekick Beary. Oh, I miss seeing you carry that beloved stuffed bear around. You are always willing to see the best in people even if they can’t see it in themselves. When the middle school years approached I could tell you were unsure of what it would hold. January 2014 was one month that I will never forget that took on the bumpy road plagued with doctor’s appointments and more medical tests that I could even imagine in your short life to be given the final diagnosis of Epilepsy. It took you a little while to come to terms with your diagnosis but you finally came to terms with it and you did things that you always do your own way.
Somehow you made it through those rough middle school years and entered high school. The only one of our girls to be at the school at the time. You somehow managed to handle all the high school trials without any stumbles and on your own terms. You made it through with your head held high not bowing to peer pressure like so many others in your class have down to finally having your senior year.
And then you made it to your final year. A year that was to be filled with prom, dances, senior picnics, senior pictures, and most importantly Graduation. This was what I wanted to cherish with you as your mom. Right now we should be picking out your 2020 graduation party invitations and thinking about designing your thank you notes for graduation gifts but instead, we are wondering when graduation will be and whether or not Maddie and Lex will be there to see you walk across that stage that they did when they graduated.
I know it doesn’t seem fair but I totally know that you handle this like you have everything else in your life on your own terms and in your own way. Thank you for being the daughter that you are and continue to march to the beat of your drum. The world needs more leaders like you in it.
Love
Mama
PS, by the way, Happy 18th Birthday.
Really enjoyed reading this. 🙂 Thanks for sharing.
This is so sweet and touching (:
This is beautiful! It is written from the heart all the way.