#1

This year, in my birthday card from my dad, he ended his wonderfully kind words with the following, "and like Grandma Nonie used to tell me, you'll always be #1."  If any of you knew Grandma Nonie you realize she always liked a play on words.  Dad is the oldest of  9... The number one child.  I am the oldest child of my dad's kids...therefore, I too am #1, and my dear Kayla Marie is #1 which leads me to her.

My sweet #1 child will turn 17 in two weeks.  I can't believe 17 years have passed since I woke up my husband telling him " I think I'm in labor and we should go to the hospital" ( and like every good man he said...ok let me jump into the shower first). 17 years seems like a snap, but let me tell you a little about my #1 child and those 17 years.

Kayla fell into this world with her eyes wide open, literally.  She had the Biggest, Roundest, Brightest blue eyes, I had ever seen.  I admit I thought they looked like bulging fish eyes and was slightly concerned that she may never grow into them. The doctors assured me she would ( and she did!). That big eyed girl has rocked my world ever since that day.

Kayla lives life loudly!  She has never done anything "just a little", she has always done everything big, and bold and....loudly.  When she is excited she shares with the most jubilant intensity.  You feel like you should jump up and down while she talks.  When she is angry, frustrated or upset...loud as a ship's captain, and when she believes in something,  her passion seeps from the very core of her soul, very loudly.  The thing about Kayla though, is you only see her loud self if she wants you to, because Kayla is mature, controlled and cautious.   Kayla is one of the most dedicated, stubborn, driven 17 year olds I know.  Kayla doesn't do anything half heartedly, if she's going to do it, it's full out 110%.  From the get go I have chased Kayla though life.  She took off running and Brian and I were left in the dust.   I think that's the thing about Kayla that is most amazing, she isn't the biggest risk taker in the world, but she is always up for a challenge.  She never shys  away from proving herself.  I have always been amazed at her dedication to what ever she does.  She took gymnastics from age 3 to 11, crazy hours a week, and only as she was deciding that she was ready for something different did she slow down.  Then she hit the floor dancing and hasn't looked back since.

Kayla dancing is like watching my heart, on a cloud,  as it flies over the mountains. She has always been a dancer at heart, and I lose myself in her extraordinary talent when I see how she goes from graceful, to sassy, to free spirited to intense.  If you want to see in the true soul of that girl watch her dance when she doesn't know you're watching.

The other thing about Kayla, she is wicked smart.  Over this last year I have watched her take on her education with so much fire.  She learns with a desire so deep I am amazed that her brain hasn't exploded. As a parent I love watching my child fascinate in that knowledge that surrounds her

As my #1 child,  Kayla was my teacher.  We waded through parenting with Kayla taking charge, like always.  She taught me how to be a mother, often quite loudly, and she stole my heart in the process.  She reflects me in so many ways, yet grows outside anything I could have hoped to be myself.  Kayla  is my truth.  Her compassion, and desire to make this world a better place, to be an inspiration to others and friend to only those who really embrace her, make her something beyond extraordinary.

As I start to think about her last year of living at home full time and her senior year in high school I am sad.  One of the benefits of being #1 is you get to the leave the house first, you often don't know what it's like to be left, because you're blazing the trail for #2  and #3.  However, sadness is quickly transferred  into pride and joy.  In one year the world will get one of the most extraordinary persons they will have ever encountered.  I have a feeling she will enter it with the grace of a dancer, the determination of a bull, the energy of a steam engine, and the noise of a church bell ringing LOUDLY, but until then, she is still mine for one year.  My energy, my truth, my passion...#1.