Happy Birthday miles away

Today is my daughter's birthday. Happy Birthday, Bethany. I love you.

I remember holding you for the first time. It was like a spiritual experience. The awe and amazement that I felt seeing how perfect you were made me realize how amazing life really is. I still stand in awe and amazement when I look at you. You are a remarkable young woman. The little hands and feet with little fingers and toes are now walking the streets in faraway places being the hands and feet of Christ. Your little cry that upset me twenty-five years ago still upsets me today, yet we can now talk about the things that make you cry. And we can cry together. Your first smile brought such joy to a young mother. Your smiles today, even though are far away, still bring overwhelming joy. When you took your first steps I never dreamed where those feet would go, yet, somehow I think I knew. I've always known. There's something about you that it different; I don't have to tell you that. There's a different way that you have decided to live that, although not always easy or fun, you have stuck to. You decided to take the narrow road, the hard path, the sometimes almost unmarked path. The years where you felt so alone and asked me why others didn't see things the way you did were tough years, until you found out why you were the way you were and learned to embrace life to its fullest. I know that the times of loneliness are still with you and the path of life hasn't widened, but I'm so proud that you are still on the same road. You have been faithful. I know you long for someone to walk beside you, hand in hand, and that will also come, but for now you are so amazing - treading down life's road, looking ahead, seeing opportunities, living life. I am so proud of you.

My prayer for you this year is that you will experience things that I only dream of. You will see each sunset as beautiful and greet each sunrise with expectation. You will face the challenges of new cultures with a smile. You will walk the streets of old with the same message that others told long ago. You will taste and see what is good. You will laugh. You will cry. You will be all you are meant to be. And that you will remember each day that your mom is still amazed at you. The same arms that cradled you twenty-five years ago may not be physically there, but are still there to hold you when you need a mom and a friend.

I wish I were there with you today. We would share laughs, dreams, hopes, fears. Yet we are together in a way. We will always be together. You are always in my heart, soul, and mind. And I love you.

Mom