Today is our daughter's 25th birthday. It seems like such a big milestone, and it is.
But it seems like yesterday when she was born.
I remember being pregnant with her. After Joshua's birth surprised us all (the fact that he had Down Syndrome), my doctor monitored me carefully. I had requested not to have any prenatal testing beyond the simple blood tests. But I had several ultrasounds...measuring and looking. Down Syndrome is kind of hard to find on a typical, normal ultrasound.
Or, it was back 27 years ago.
But, at one of our appointments, we did find out we were having a GIRL! We could not believe it! I thought for sure I would have all boys. Jim's family has boys. His grandfather had two sons. Between them, they had 5 sons. NO GIRLS. In fact, the youngest girl in that family was over 80 years old. Eeek! As Joshua would say, "she was ODE."
We scheduled a C-section for December 16...two weeks before her due date of Christmas. It was a Friday. Actually, Jim said she could come anytime in December. Anytime but the 13th. He had big, big meetings that day with the big, big bosses of his company. Any other day would be fine.
When I started having contractions, I thought it was false labor. When I got to the hospital in full-blown labor in the middle of the night, I had to laugh. And when she was born early that morning, I could almost hear GOD laugh. It was December 13.
And Jim did have meetings all day, but was in and out at the hospital. My friend, Sherri stayed in the room with me all day. She was such a sweetheart to do that...and she got to hold Holly before anyone else in our family, or any of our other friends. And she got to hold her most of the day. Good practice for her, because 6 months later, she welcomed her own baby girl.
Wow, how the time has flown. I love that God gave us a girl. Especially now that she's married and has a life of her own, I am loving that Jim and I can be a part of it. It's something I didn't really have with my own Mom, because she lived in another state. And now that she's in Heaven...well, there's just a lot I missed, and there's a lot I miss.
So, I was trying to think of the perfect gift. 25 years is pretty special. I thought of jewelry...I mean, can't go wrong there, am I right? But then I figured out the perfect thing for her. She wanted a Kitchen-Aid Mixer when she got married 2 years ago, but she didn't get one. I knew it would be something she would LOVE...and I thought that it would be something she would always remember she got on her 25th birthday.
I couldn't decide on a color. I went back and forth. I thought I would get red. She loves red. They were out of red. At Christmastime. Whaaaaat?
They had a turquoise-y blue color. I knew she would like that. And the yellow...well, it's about her favorite color. But Morgan got a yellow one, so Holly might want to get a different color. The coral color...I know she likes that. Her watchband is coral...and her stethoscope is coral. Someone at her nursing school asked her if she planned to match her watchband and stethoscope. She said, "no...it's just coincidence."
In the end, I bought her one in a color called "icy glaze." It's a light mint-ish blue-ish green-ish. I knew she'd love it. I just don't know if you want to get a "fun" color, or if you want to get a mixer that is the color of everything in your kitchen. If I had done that, my mixer would've been an earth-tone color, because that was what everyone did back in my day. Now? YUCK.
The young guy that was helping me was so nice. He was really friendly and accommodating. He even checked for a red one "in the back" with the new freight, but couldn't find one. He told me that Holly could exchange her mixer for a different color if she wanted to.
As I was paying, he asked me if I had a mixer like that. I said that I did not...that I had been married 33 years and had made it just fine with a hand-mixer (or three). He asked if this new mixer was a Christmas gift for someone. I told him it was my daughter's birthday, and that I wanted to get her something she would remember getting when she turned 25. He looked up at me and very quietly said, "wow. She must really be special. No one has ever spent this much money on me in my entire life."
Not gonna lie...I had to fight back the tears. I was so thankful for my daughter, and even though I was thrilled to buy this gift for her, it in no way measured my love for her. I loved her the same amount before and after I bought her the present.
And this young man who helped me...I prayed that he felt loved and valued in his life, no matter what (if any) gifts had been given to him.
"So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him." Luke 11:13
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