Do not regret growing older. It is a privilege denied to many.
~Author Unknown
A long–very long–day, much longer for the woman than for the man. Waiting, wondering, praying, and then a flurry of activity, a sharp cry, and a child is born. That was nearly two decades ago, nineteen years as of 8:11 p.m. this evening to be exact. Despite the ol’ wives’ tales and superstitious predictions, despite even the doctor’s certainty, the man knew his heart’s desire would be answered–and he was correct, the child was a girl. He never could settle on a boy’s name through all those nine months of waiting and wondering. He always knew he would be getting a baby girl. And though certain of the girl’s name first name before her arrival, sentimentality provided a different middle name in the final hour.
Our daughter turns 19 years old today. If that seems impossible to any of you, imagine what it must be like for her parents who on occasion feel as if they are just young kids playing at house. She is aging beautifully–her parents are being forced to age gracefully. She is three credit hours shy of her Associate of Arts Degree. Her whole life remains before her. Two decades of the bliss and heartache of childhood and adolescence will give way to the hope of future decades in which she may see her own child, or children, enter this world with the same waiting and wonder that marked her arrival. Only then will she begin to understand the pride that her parents feel.
Happy Birthday Tori Nicole, we love you dearly.
Aw, happy Birthday Tori!! She’s SO beautiful, Carl!!! And OMG the new site!! It looks so good!
Thanks Chris! I’ll give Mary credit for the one thing and my friend James the credit for the other. I think you probably know who gets credit for what. LOL!
wow! do you walk behind her with a bat to keep the guys away?
Happy Birthday Tori!!
Deslily: Yes! And we put one of those police low jacks on her so she can’t get far from the house.
Awww, a very Happy Birthday to your Tori. She’s just lovely. My oldest will be 19 in August…although it can be a bit exasperating at times…lol There’s nothing more rewarding than watching your child grow into adulthood. They take all the groundwork you’ve prepared so very carefully….and run with it. As they should…Wow, does it fly by though 😀 🙁 😀
Kelly: Tori is our one and only, our oldest and youngest at the same time. And yes, it does really fly by though. When I was looking for quotes to start this post I saw this one:
and I started thinking about how true that was, just not quite accurate for this post since Tori wasn’t turning 20 yet. So many different rites of passage happen in those first two decades and that part of life seems to last forever. And then it starts picking up speed and whooshes by. It really is wild and unexplainable.
Happy Birthday to our sweet Grandbaby! You and Mary did well in raising Tori! She is a little beauty ,inside and out. We love you all and are proud to call you “our” family.
family!!
Mom: It certainly helped being raised by loving parents. Love you too.
i don’t know what happened because I didn’t click to notify me of followups but I am getting all the emails again
Not sure because no one has subscribed for comments from this email. If anyone else is getting the emails for new comments on this post (and didn’t subscribe) please let me know. I forwarded your email on to James.
If anyone else is having issues with getting comments but you didn’t sign up for comments, or any other functionality issues with the new site, please let me know. Like everyone else on blog sites we are using plug-ins created by others and on occasion there are gremlins in the system. I appreciate any help to try to get problems fixed. Don’t want to annoy my readers! 🙂
A very sweet birthday message. I hope all of you have a wonderful day.
Thanks, I wish the same for you as well. 🙂
Happy Birthday, dear Tori! We love you!
Love you bunches, Tori! I still remember the first time I saw you and have great memories (though few b/c we lived so far away) of you as a little kid with a bald head and the softest cheeks to kiss! You were such a little cutie and have grown into a beautiful young adult. I pray many, many blessings over you and much happiness all the days of your life. -Aunt Abby
That young woman looks so full of life! A very happy day to her. xo
It’s so hard to imagine my girls getting this old! I still remember Tori being 5 and Julie watching her during the summers!
Happy birthday, Tori!
(too bad time hasn’t been as good to you, Carl :p)
James: Come now, you haven’t seen me in my new bikini!
It is hard for me to believe your girls will be this age…and sooner than we all anticipate.
You, in a bikini? I don’t think so!
she is a beautiful young woman…happy birthday (to all concerned!)!!
Thanks L! I was able to take her out to lunch today which was really fun. I don’t do that often and I should do it more.
Happy Birthday to Tori! I hope the day was filled with fun.
Carl, she is beautiful. I was just thinking the other day about when her birthday was because I remember last year’s post. I thought maybe you did not post about it this year, and voila, here it is. Aging gracefully and aging beautifully was well put. The whole post is very lovely.
Thank you, Ibeeeg. I don’t post about birthdays every year, but these last few have been big deals and it would have been hard not to post about them! What scares me is that time is going to rush by and we will be back here next year talking about my daughter leaving behind the teen years and turning 20! Wow!
You know what Carl, when your child reaches her twenties you will find the beauty in that. I love that Benji is 21; he is growing into a wonderful young man with a few little quirks to work on. 😀 It truly is a fabulous experience to be a parent of an adult (I guess I should be calling him an adult as I was his age when he as born). I truly think this time in a child’s life is a beautiful thing; a treasure and something that I am grateful for in my own son. I am sure you feel that way too. 😀
In regards to time rushing by, don’t you think it has been doing that for the last several years anyway? For me, it has. I think it truly started to rush by when I reached my late thirties, probably before that but not so apparent.
I think about the time I realized that Tori was old enough to take to movies that we wouldn’t have taken to her when she was younger (I think it was the first or second Spiderman film) that time just went into fast forward from there and has never shown any signs of slowing down. Not at all. I was 20 when we got married so it will be an odd trip down memory lane when Tori turns that age. It will be fun, but it is still freaky having this annual reminder that time is rocketing past.
Happy Birthday Tori! Nice job, parents!!
Thanks Kerry!!!
Oh my, how can she be nineteen?!! I swear she was just fifteen last week!
All one has to do is see a picture of Tori to see how beautiful she is physically, but of course what really matters is the beauty inside. And from absolutely everything I’ve learned about her over the last few years I know she’s every bit as beautiful on the inside!!!
I hope you all had a wonderful time celebrating!!! And Tori, I hope this is your best year yet!!!
I need to recheck her birth certificate. There has to be some mistake!
She is indeed beautiful on the inside (a fact which I’ll give her mother all the credit for) and I feel fortunate to have a daughter that is so easy to be proud of.
Thank you all so much! You all made my day really special with your nice comments and warm birthday wishes! Thank you, Dad for the blog post also, it means a lot to me to be included in your blog today (or yesterday?)! Love to all, Tori
Happy belated birthday to your daughter! I love the new look, Carl!
Thank you on both counts, Vasilly! I hope all is well with you.