26 years ago ...

My daughter turned 26 today.

I've been thinking about this a lot lately. The co-chairs of the Communications Team in Troy Conference are around my daughter's age, and I remembered looking at one of them thinking, "How can she be the same age as my daughter when my daughter is still a child and Becca is an adult?"

Don't get me wrong. My daughter has been self-supporting and living 1,000 miles away (did I mention I miss her?) for four years; before that, she moved out for a while before coming back home and regrouping. She's been employed for 10 years, in a committed relationship for five years or so, and she's back in school pursuing a degree in graphic animation and writing.

So, she really is an adult, but ...

I close my eyes and see her in her funny striped cotton jammies hanging on to the belt loops of my husband's saggy jeans and begin hung onto by her brother, also clothed in funny striped jammies, doing this silly train dance across the kitchen. I see her sound asleep, clutching a stuffed rabbit, sprawled in front of the screen door. I see her blowing on my mother's cheek and laughing hysterically at her accomplishment.

There's a great scene in the remake of "Father of the Bride," when Steve Martin's character's daughter announces she's getting married and he looks at her, and she's this little girl in diapers, and Lord, do I sympathize.

I don't want to get maudlin or trite or anything ... hum, "Sunrise, sunset" in the background here ... but it does go fast, doesn't it? In the midst of raising children, you think you're never going to have another adult conversation, or go anywhere without packing for a month, or actually be able to take a bath alone, and then, suddenly, your kids are grown and they are wondering if they're ever going to have another adult conversation, or go anywhere without packing for a month or taking a bath alone ...

When she was born, I dutiful wrote my hopes and dreams for her ... they were pretty simple, I guess. I just wanted her to be happy, love what she did and think beyond herself.

Know what? She is everything I dreamed.

What's even better is my son surprised her tonight by flying out to see her. Her boyfriend took her out to a Japanese restaurant for dinner and her brother was waiting for her. I wish I could have been there ...

So happy birthday, baby girl! You are a gift, a promise and a realization!