Belated Birthday Letter

It is early morning Rebekah and I woke at 0430 and realized I never wrote your birthday letter this year.

Mea culpa my love. This spring has been full of family challenges: losses and growths. And the time as gone by and now here we are in August.

So back to you. You turned 7 this year. You have come into your own likes and dislikes. Each year you speak up for yourself, more and more, and stand your ground. You have become so adept at expressing your feelings even when it is happening in the moment and is hard. You are still quiet but you do make yourself heard. The grown you have had this year, not just being taller with longer hair, but coming to be you, it is a Blessing to see.

Your sister has intermittently had a rough few months and honestly, it has seemed to help you grow, speak up and out. Even more important: excuse yourself and tell the house and the world, you would just rather be left alone right now.

You are funny. You are so affectionate and kind. You do have a head in the clouds - I love that about you because it is my go to as well.

Your wish list this year, in case you ever want to look back and remember has included sleepovers with friends and having time to play by yourself as well as your sister. You seem to love math, mostly to avoid Hebrew, but I get that too. You work quickly to move on to enjoying your time and you know what you value.

For those log term goals, you seem to be fairly consistent. You want a mansion, on your own, of course. You want a number of cats and because you know I am allergic you will always shower before you come over to visit me. You will require a limo service, even just to go to 7-11 and you are considering being famous or a vet or both. When I showed you an example of how intrusive the public can be for a famous person, you seemed to lean toward the vet gig.

You also can do so many amazing things: dance moves stay with you from class and you have so much inherent grace. You can do the splits - something I worked on for years and gave up. You sing and laugh and really seem to enjoy your life, which fills my heart.

I love you my darling girl. I thank G-d you are in my life.

Yours, always,
Mama