Opinion : Happy Birthday, Kiddo

Hey it's your birthday, party!

Dean Jr.

With the favorite uncle

With the 3 Fords

and reading a bedtime story

Daddy, teach me how to play chess, and don't cheat, play it right...she'd say

the playdough toe

what can you say but, Awwwww....

So dance, it's your day!

On this day in history, well ok, so 18 years ago, I spent the day in the hospital, and the next few...but it was for a good cause, I was awaiting the arrival of a little girl.

It was one of those births that make all the nurse's hair in the OB ward stand on end. I was in a "lucky" minority that had the joy of bringing home a baby after some of the same complications had robbed other mothers of the same joy. I had no idea, what fun this little girl would be.

Even before leaving the hospital, the fun began.

The pediatrician came in and asked me what nationality the father was. He could plainly see that I was a pale as they come. I laughed and looked to make sure we were talking about the same baby, we were. I told him that he's a plain ol' caucasian, of the Heinz 57 variety.

I still remember that day, July 4. Her cute curly black hair bounced as she tottered over to her Uncle Peter. I think he is still her favorite uncle.

One of my favorite memories of her as a little girl was when she'd get totally exasperated with her brothers and sisters, we'd hear a tiny voice declare, "People!" at the time she thought that was the ultimate insult.

She is a Ford gal. "Did you know that Chevy had to recall their cars AGAIN?" she told me as we headed to Waterloo. Her grandpa would have loved to have had someone as dedicated to Ford trucks as her, he never had any boys, but I think this gal would have made him stick out his chest with pride.

She's the first one to have bought a car, and a truck and then ANOTHER car before her 18th birthday. All Fords, of course.

She is one of those rare kids that sit, down and decides how much spending money she will spend in the next week, and when it's gone, she's done spending.

In the last few years, we discovered she's been having some health problems that weren't in the normal teenage, "I'm tired category." So we started visiting doctors here, in Cedar Rapids and Waterloo until we finally found someone who began treatment that seems to be helping.

In all of that, we also discovered that she has weird veins which require an intense amount of poking to find a vein for all the blood tests she's had done. Not once did she complain. At the most we got a "It hurt a little bit" out of her. Now I've been there, and that is one of the most awful things, and I have good veins! But she grins, makes a joke about it, and goes on.

Her last episode resulted in a huge bruise on her arm about 6 inches long. It's one of her badges of honor from someone that didn't find the vein.

If you want a babysitter, you'll have to wrestle her away from the ones she babysits for now, but this gal is the best with kids.

Need some baking done? Is your preference chocolate chip cookies? Well, she knows how to make the best ones, even the gal whose recipe she used wanted the recipe!

Have a gluten problem, no problem, she's off to find a recipe that works for you. How about an allergy to other food, no problem she'll find you a recipe and then runs out to buy the special ingredients it takes too, just so that you can have a cookie along with the rest of the crowd!

Now raspberries, this gal will fight the horse for a bush that has some. Last year, the horse waited patiently for her to fill her bucket then tipped her and the bucket over, winning over half of them. She came in so disgusted with the poor horse. She dumped what she had and went to find more, in a field where the horse WASN'T.

She's inherited my sense of humor and improved on it, and there's nothing I love more than to hear her chuckle.

We also share a love for crafts and bags with lots and lots of pockets.

A few weeks ago when while talking about getting another car, and joking about how it had to be something with 4 wheels ON IT, after the wheel fell off of the last car...there was one kind, but it had a tendency toward rollovers. "So do Buick Park Avenues" she quipped...she's the one that scared the daylights out of me last year when she flipped the car.

She's made me proud for sure, but then she's my 5th born so I've had a lot of practice toward getting it right.

So on your 18th, Happy Birthday Kiddo!