Strawberry Fields 4evr

Today is Spanky’s birthday. Fifteen years ago, when we brought her home from the hospital, we were buying strawberries by the crate. Don’t ask how I remember that but she loves to hear the story over and over.

So every year when her birthday rolls around we know it is strawberry season. No need to even check the bottom of the container for rotten ones. They’re all good.

While Spanky is a genetic improvement of Blane and I, Spanky has:

My cowlick, my chin, lips, knees, whacked baby toenail, and passion for music and words.

Blane’s eyes, brows, shoulders, competitiveness, sense of responsibility, keen perception.

She has her own sense of humor and an immaculate memory.

This weekend she goes to her first school dance with her first boyfriend. I sent an email out to a few of the girls with some photos of Spanky comparing different dresses. Her first grown-up looking dress. I got so many different responses. Some people focused on my perspective, some on hers. It was fascinating (and although Spanky always says she doesn’t care what people think about how she dresses, she wanted to know what everyone thought about the dress she chose).

She doesn’t want anything for her birthday. She never wants anything. She gets that from her dad.

Two famous Spanky quotes: “The world is a pop-up book (age 4)” and “Queue the fangirls (age 13).” 

Oh, and, “This is the Wife (age 3).” She was kicked back in her Mickey Mouse swimming pool, wearing sunglasses, with her arms propped upon the sides of the pool. She couldn’t pronounce an “L.”

When she started walking she ditched the traditional method and walked on her knees instead for months. I think she was afraid of falling. She hardly ever fell. Clumsy is the last word I’d use to describe her. 

She loves to listen to the Beatles, so I have the perfect YouTube for her, Strawberry Fields. I’ve read Lennon wrote this song about himself, how he thinks on a different level than most people. She’s like that.

Happy Birthday, Spank.