Today is Libby’s birthday. Yes, for those who have been paying attention, all three of us have birthdays in May. Mine is on the 7th, 5 days later is Sophie’s on the 12th and 5 days after that is Libby’s on the 17th. That is why my horse show number is 555 whenever I can get it. Five for the month of 5 and for us being 5 days apart. For the record, my dad and mom both have/had birthdays in May as well. And we have added Taylin and Tim on the 1st and 3rd of June respectively, so this 5 week stretch is almost like Christmas all over again at our house.
But as I was saying, today is Libby’s birthday. And not just any birthday, her golden birthday. My little girl is not so little any more. Well, she’s still little, she’s just not so young anymore. (Sorry Libby - but 5’3” does not make you “big”.) We will be facing a lot of milestones in this next 12 months that I don’t want to think about. Her senior year, and all that that entails, is looming like a big dark thundercloud on the horizon. She keeps looking at colleges that are way too far away, like 45 minutes! And talking about senior pictures and graduation parties and…. *shudder*. Let’s not talk about it. Let’s talk about Libby memories instead!
Libby loves to talk about how she was the perfect child and that the only distress she has ever caused me was when she was born. She has half of that story right. Her arrival was not exactly easy. Two weeks late and almost 30 hours of labor later she finally decided to join the world. But once she got here she was much loved by everyone. She was the first granddaughter on my side and the first grandchild on her dad’s. Let’s just say she couldn’t have been more loved and doted on.
She was a pretty easy kiddo, but every little one has their moments. A favorite story is when we were moving into a new house and she was playing quietly in her room. As they say, never trust a kid playing quietly. She came out of her room covered in marker stripes on every exposed inch of skin, including her face. Even though I was appalled and demanded to know what she did, her response made us giggle and we couldn’t even be mad at her. She proudly informed us in her little voice, “I’m a lion!”
Once her sister arrived she was in love and such a great big sissy. Sophie really didn’t have to talk as a baby because Libby was always giving her what she wanted, helping her learn to walk and playing with her. That lasted pretty much until the time that her sister started beating her up and Libby was too nice to just let her have it back. Finally I told Libby to stand up for herself. I’ll never forget the time that I watched out the pictures window as they truly did sort it out on the front lawn. They always had a little different understanding of each other after that incident, we will call it Cage Match (minus the cage) 2009(ish).
She also scared the crap out of me as a toddler when she toddled up to me very blue in the face. It took a strong clap on the back for her to cough up a large button she had found somewhere and decided to choke on. Which brings up the other memory of her taking a digger and cutting her knee open on an exposed nail. Oh and the time she fell off her pony and got a concussion because she was sneaking around without her helmet on. Hmmm.. I guess people are right. She is my clone in many many ways.
As I’ve talked about perfectionism with Sophie, I have to mention it with Libby as well. She has always been harder on herself than I could ever be and sets high standards for herself to achieve. She is a dedicated student, who loves reading and writing almost as much as I do. Last I heard she was even leaning towards writing as a possible career option. But then we are talking about graduation and we aren’t going to talk about that here.
Libby has always been like me in a lot of ways and one of those is that she’s a homebody and more comfortable with a few close friends than in a crowd of people. It’s why I was so surprised when she decided to make the switch with her sister to DE this past school year. Especially as it was her junior year. But she did and she has had a very successful year. I am super proud of how brave she has been and how she has adapted and used the move as a learning experience.
Libby has always been the horse nut. She has shared my love of all things horses since she was old enough to start playing with Breyers. Which, I would like to point out, she has a very large and ever growing collection of. She has read every horse book that I have ever read and then some. She has watched every horse movie I have ever seen, and then some. She was also a perfectionist when it came to her horses. I remember her being a giant sponge who soaked up every bit of information about horses she could get. This led her to spend a lot more time hanging out with the adults and talking collection, headset, disposition and pedigree than playing in the dirt with the other little kids. Libby has always been by little adult. She’s been old before her time. And now that she is almost a “real” adult, it is going to be impossible for me to let her go.
Libby, you have grown into an incredible amazing young woman who I couldn’t be more proud of. Happy golden birthday! Love you forever.
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