A Free-Spirit Birthday

She's always done things her own way, regardless of what anyone else may think...

At the age of three, she was setting her own fashion style - refusing to go along with the trend, but experimenting until she found her own unique look. While all the other 3-year old girls were wearing sparkly pink and glitzy purple, my daughter was wearing all black. I would just sigh and shake my head. Where did she get this?

At the age of eight, she was developing her own unique music tastes...while all the other 8-year old girls were swooning and sighing over Justin Bieber, my daughter was listening to Fairy Tail and K-ON, who sing and produce Japanese anime music. I would just sigh and shake my head. Where did she get this?

At the age of twelve, she was developing her own unique literary tastes...while all the other 12-year old girls were swooning over The Twilight Series, my daughter was reading Brian Kittrell and James Patterson...again, I would just sigh and shake my head. Where did she get this?

She swoons over kittens, red velvet ice-cream, and visits to the spa.

She's fiercely stubborn and strong...and yet wants nothing more than a hug and a cuddle at the end of the day.

She can sit for hours, scribbling in her sketch book, which is never far from her side. The drawings that she produces from her fingers enchants me and mystifies me and astounds me, as I have no artistic background whatsoever. What I create with words, she creates with pictures...and it is good. Where did she get this? I have no idea....

She's pockets of sunshine and deep pools of teenage angst, wrapped in a package of feminine mystique.

She's my miracle baby...the daughter I thought I would never have...and she's turning 13 today.

When you are the mother of a free spirt, you learn to sit back, watch them grow, and enjoy the ride. You never clip their wings, but you encourage them to use their very unique and very different wings to fly....

My daughter is soaring...and I am left shaking my head, and wondering where she will end up in this very unique journey of her life....

Happy birthday, Mickey.

Peace.