So today is one of those days where I once again wonder where the years have gone by, how time flies, and wasn’t it just yesterday when…….. Today, I am going to attempt to pen a birthday letter to my daughter.
Yes, today, my daughter celebrates another birthday and before I know it, she will be heading off to college (well, a couple more years, but that seems so less now) leaving us as empty nesters. I don’t want to get ahead of myself, so while she is home, and while my older child keeps returning home from college (like this weekend to help celebrate his sister’s birthday<3), I want to make the memories I can to hold on to for later.
So here goes, my attempt to pen (well, type)
A Happy Birthday Letter to My Daughter
Attempting is the word here, for those words I feel in my heart, the ones floating around in my brain, refuse to make their way down here. This is like the story of the king watching the spider climb up over and over again – the ‘try, try, and try‘ method.
Sweetheart,
Then And Now
I look at you, and see that you are now almost a young woman, no longer that little girl who refused to step away from my side, no matter what. Where once you liberally and literally dusted your face with talcum powder, you now carefully clean it with micellar water or something similar (for you say it is good for your skin, and that something good changes every so often too!).
Where once you happily spent time in the backyard scouring for roly-polies, you now roll your eyes (sweetly or not so, depending on so much else) when I ask you to spend more time out in that very same backyard! Once upon a time, you were a little girl happy to be read to. Flash forward to the present, you spend that time reading texts on your phone.
Now and Then
Now don’t get me wrong! I am not complaining about you. It is simply some of the truths of being a mom to a teenage girl (right?)
And there is also the other side to it. The one where you are my stylist now 🙂 You give me suggestions on my outfit to be more ‘me.’ You love to dress me up, like I did to you ages ago. (Granted, I am way more stubborn about getting made-up or dressed up now than you were then.)
Magic Within
Where once you spent time using kitchen utensils as your toys, now you are turning out to be a chef in your own rights. [You see, I never got the cooking genes from my mom. I manage to turn out decent dishes everyday, but some people just have magic in their hands and it transfers to the food they cook. Do you know what I mean?] You, my sweetheart, you have that magic, and you make me proud everyday, whether you cook, or not.
That magic in your hands I am talking about? Well, it is not just about the deliciousness you lend to the dishes. Your touch heals, really. When I have a headache or my back aches from hours of standing, your fingers soothe away the pain in an instant!
And I love how creative you are too, though you do not draw or paint as often nowadays (or maybe not as often as I would like you to, if I am being honest).
Last, But Not the Least
You are brave and beautiful, sweet and stubborn, naughty and nice, and oh so my very own little girl, then, now, and always! Here is wishing you a very happy birthday.
~ Love, mom
(So not really what I thought I wanted to write to her, but these were definitely some of the words that were rambling around in my brain!)
Related Reads
All those previous attempts I talked about..
- A Letter to My Daughter (this was on the occasion of daughter’s day)
- Somewhat sweet and somewhat silly poems for her birthdays past – ten and eleven
- A list of 13 things I made to do with her before her thirteenth (well, looking back at it, I think we did most of it in one way or the other!)
- When my heart melted a little
- and then a little something else
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Gifts For My Daughter Then and Now
On a whim, I looked at the things my daughter has loved over the years and that we got for her around her birthday or had Santa bring her. Some of them were of course things we wanted for her 🙂 But in the end, she loved each one of them and we still have a few of those gifts around at home.
When she was but a toddler, just two years old, she was all about Dora! We got her Dora books, a couple of cute T-shirts, and this DVD collection! We still take it on long road trips sometimes!
Oh, and I almost forgot, for a time, she had a similar hairstyle, just like the one Dora has in the purple outfit to the right.
While she did not have much of a Disney princess phase, she did love her stickers and the color pink for a while. It was during this time that she got this sticker book. Around 4+ years of age.
When she was five and loved us reading to her (do you recall me mentioning that earlier), I was in a ‘cute book’ phase which led me to pick this book. Great for reading together with beginner readers, or to read to little ones, I’ll Be You and You Be Me is a sweet, sweet read with sweet illustrations!
But don’t worry, she also got a coloring book to have fun with!
Then there was her 10th birthday party that she wanted a cooking related party, and we got chef aprons for all her friends! We made pretzels and cookies (they later also decorated the cookies).
Followed by a sewing machine Santa got for her when she was but 10 for she really wanted to learn sewing! While she did not really learn much then, she has since learned some basics and uses it even today. While this one (pictured here) is way more pricey than when we got it (not sure how that happens), beginners will love using this mini sewing machine.
Various tie-dye kits and craft sets over the years, including a knitting kit when she joined a class at school and adorable clay charms. Then suddenly I found myself buying bracelets and charms and tapioca pearls for boba at home!
More recently, it is skin care or other similar products, and clothing accessories, like this cute cardigan she pairs with dresses.
Of course, her sewing, knitting, and art projects continue still.
One of my coolest moments was when she requested for a copy of A People’s History of the United States for her birthday two years ago!!
As for this year, she got a drawing journal (one more of those) and this cute heart pendant she wanted along with a couple other things coming her way.
By the way, the pages in the journal I have linked are really thick and can withstand ink!
What a sweet letter. It’s true they grow up so fast. Mine are both adults but I still have one at home.
A lovely letter to your daughter. Time does fly and they grow up and fly out of the nest.