ESL Blogs

It was eighteen years ago on a Holy Wednesday in the middle of the Holy Week that a disturbance interrupted the mood of that Lenten Season, lent of course is a time of temperance and even emotions should be kept at bay, now added to this gloomy atmosphere was an ominous old wives’ tale that goes, “Wednesday’s Child is Full of Woe”, but something affected the quality of that day, for on that Wednesday, a little girl made her way into our lives and grabbed our hearts so that all of a sudden Easter was upon us and we were caught up in the days of all delight.

It began, and after a thousand, thousand kisses that we kissed, the thousand, thousand games that we played, the thousand, thousand tears that we cried, and the thousand, thousand laughter that we laughed, now, tonight, she stands before us a beautiful lady of 18!

I looked at her and I am reminded of all this experience we shared with her growing up.  They are like rings on my kitchen table, you know when you put a glass of water on a wooden table, it leaves a mark that looks like a ring, and if you leave the glasses just lying everywhere on the table you end up with interlocking patterns of rings on your table.  There was a time when Andrea had not started school yet and I stayed at home to be with her so that we were alone together for long stretches of time in the house and in that time these rings adorned our kitchen table, and before cleaning it a thought came to me:  these rings were made from all the meals we shared together.   The melon juice when we were working on her art activity, the cold chocolate milk to help her finish the vegetables on her plate, the coca cola drink that was a medicine to soothe her tears when she fell and bruised her knees.  This table bore the scars of our loving, crazy, carefree and happy times together.  They were like rings on a tree where you could date its age and you could learn about its life.

From my kitchen table, I am brought back to the rings of growth that was added year after year that she has grown with us to the lady she has become tonight.  A lady who wanted a party with fresh fallen flowers at her feet and above her the stars. 

These rings are not only in my kitchen table but also in my heart, and I love the scars of rings she has left on my heart for all these years, they are there to stay and I have made room in my heart for a thousand, thousand more rings and a thousand, thousand more years with her.

I love you my dear Andrea girl…to the moon and back!  To the stars and beyond! Happy Birthday!