Seventeen

It hardly seems possible, but today my second youngest and only daughter turned seventeen. We had a regular day, but she was blessed by many small expressions of love from family and friends. We aren't big into gifts just for that day, but we did take a favorite treat to the youth activity to share with all her church friends. She spent the day in school, interacting with friends,  doing homework and helping out at a service project. In that way, the day was a microcosm of her life right now-she spends most of her time doing those very things, usually with a wonderful sense of humor and joy about life. She's not interested in a birthday photoshoot, but I adore this imperfect shot from our outing on Monday night. I framed an ordinary shot of the azaleas and she danced down the stone steps to join her brothers and made it into a totally different photo.  I wasn't expecting her, but there she was, adding a light-hearted sweetness to the scene. In much the same way, she danced into our boy-centered world all those years ago and I felt indeed blessed to have one dear daughter.  In spite of an ultrasound during my pregnancy that indicated she was indeed a girl, after 3 boys, I refused to really believe it until she was in my arms. She continues to add so much to our family.