Happy Birthday, Dot!

When I was pregnant with you, everyone told me that childbirth was unbearable.

"Oh honey, labor is terrible. You'll think you're dying, and you'll probably try to kill your husband. But the second you see that baby, none of it matters."

I thought that sounded like the stupidest thing anyone ever said to me. For once, I was wrong. You tortured me for 21 hours, and the minute I saw you, I was focused on the most beautiful baby in the world. Even the nurse said so. She washed you down and put the wooly pink hat on your head, and when she handed you back, she said, "I have worked in obstetrics for 25 years, and this is the most beautiful baby I have ever seen. I am not just saying that." She wasn't lying.

As you grew up, a majestic head of red curls sprung from your head, and strangers would stop us in the grocery to tell us how beautiful you were and ask if they could touch your hair. They told me that I should put you in modeling, but I knew you were destined for greater things.

You learned to walk when you were nine months old, and you had adventures. You rubbed an entire pound of margarine in the carpet and I thought my head would explode. Then you looked up and smiled and said, "Mommy, look what I did for you," and I had to smile back.

We survived your Barney obsession, your love affair with Max Steele, your Barbie flirtation, and the Scooby-Doo phase. When you learned to read, you learned about Egypt, and decided that you would be the world's greatest archaeologist. I think you will be, if that's what you want.

You're 12 today. That means I probably have 365 days before you decide I'm an idiot, and possibly evil. I'm gonna enjoy every one. We should play Scrabble.

Dot, you're the apple of my eye. I love that you're a nerd, and you want me to broadcast it to the entire world. I think it's funny that you complain when I get fixated on an album and listen to it over and over and over, and when I finally move on, you borrow the cd and repeat my behavior. I like the way you stick up for the little guy. I'm so proud that you put education (not necessarily the one that the Texas Education Agency is providing you) before everything else. And your vocabulary is fierce.

I hope you have an awesome birthday, you deserve it. Oh...I bought you an awesome, one-of-a-kind present from a Greek hippy that lived in Egypt. I can't wait for you to open it!

Love,
mom