Happy Birthday, Littlest One!

Birthday cards have sure changed.  When I was growing up, my parents would give me a card, without failure, every year on my birthday.  I rarely really wanted a hallmark card, they all said the same thing, a good message, but the same.  A few of them survived my youth to make it into a keepsake box that I will always treasure, mostly because my mom and sometimes my dad picked them out signed them and gave them to me. Today, cards are becoming a thing of the past, often replaced with a quick post on Facebook or other even more passing wish.


To quote, Bob Dylan, "the times they are a-changing." Mister Dylan wrote some powerful lyrics, (and managed to make them nearly unintelligible when sung) this stanza is particularly fitting:

...Come mothers and fathers Throughout the land
And don't criticize
What you can't understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road is rapidly aging
Please get out of the new one if you can't lend your hand
Cause the times they are a-changing...

I think my children know, I will always try to lend a hand, and try not to criticize.  They also know their parent's aren't perfect and we will slip, just as they will slip on this road we travel.

This year, I want to tell my littlest one, my youngest daughter, that I love her and I am proud of her.  She is out there in the world, holding her own, owning a house, holding down a good position in a good firm, building a career, meeting people, riding horses, taking photos, playing games.  I believe she is enjoying life, even if she sometimes feels highly and doesn't feel that joy from time to time.

To quote from yet another old time song written by Carly Simon, Anticipation....

We can never know about the days to come
But we think about them anyway, 
And I wonder if I'm really with you now
Or just chasin' after some finer day
I'm no prophet and I don't know nature's ways
So I'll try and see into your eyes right now
And stay right here 'cause these are the good old days 

...

And tomorrow we might not be together
I'm no prophet and I don't know nature's ways
So I'll try and see into your eyes right now
And stay right here 'cause these are the good old days

That last line has been something that I have always tried to carry with me.  No matter the challenges of the day, these should be the good old days.  Try not to wish only for a better future, or pine for the things that are past, make today the best day it can be, build treasured memories and know that:

I love you littlest one!  

Happy Birthday!