Jessica

This is our song.

My daughter, Jessica, (aka Jessie to me, she now prefers "Jess"), gave me a CD on Mother's Day last year that had song's she downloaded. These are songs that remind her of me, strike a memory, and songs she thinks I will like. Best Days became our song. She would never admit to us using our cell phones as microphones as we sing together driving along in the car. This was a carry over from when she and her brothers were little. We would pass the phone from "singer to "singer" in the car. They all loved it. We had so much fun. Of course they would deny it now!

I miss singing this with Jessie. When I listen to this song, a flood of memories play across my mind and I smile. I recall the night she was born, December 31, 1991 -New Year's Eve. She came into this world with a mind of her own, doing things her way, in her time. Jessie was two weeks late. Her spirit and energy were evident as she entered this world. Labor was three hours from start to finish. As a toddler she showed such care toward her brothers. Admiring and looking up to Jeff from the beginning and embracing Al with "Big Sister" love that they still share today. In preschool, she felt bad for the children who got time out and she wanted to sit with them. Over the years she has cared for her family and friends with a maturity beyond her years. She embraced my grief as I sat with my dying friend and embraced her friend as he watched his mother die, opening a sacred dialogue. So ,it really is no surprise that she is exploring a caring profession and to her artsy side...your life is your canvas. Go create!

She is in her freshman year at college. In the few short weeks she has been gone and who I hear on the phone when we speak, is a new young woman emerging. She is more articulate, more independent, more compassionate, more focused, more spirited, more grounded. These qualities have always been there. It is who she is. I think I sometimes was too busy parenting, navigating through life and high school drama, that I missed some opportunities. I regret that. I am so excited about the new relationship that I feel is developing between us.

I am so thankful we can respect where we each are on our faith journey. I love that I can talk to her about God, practice a sermon with her and her friends in her room and share those mystical moments we both experience from time to time.God has touched her life. My prayer for her is that she will keep her heart open to the movement of the Spirit in her life, where ever that leads her... and she will embrace that never giving up her authenticity.

I know we will continue to have those mother daughter moments that bring us both tears and joys that only and mother and daughter can share.

I thank God for the gift of my daughter and for what her life is teaching me.

The Best Days with you Jess, are always.