Happy 19th Birthday Katherine!

Dear Katherine,

I knew this was a big year for you but it wasn’t until I started going through pictures that I realized just how big. Goodness am I proud of all you have become in the past 12 months.

One year ago, you were living at home with me and Dad, going to school every day and traveling in to NYC regularly to dance. Today, you are at school six hours away celebrating with friends and a community you have grown all on your own. Many of the people who love you today didn’t even know you at this time last year. How cool is that?! And how amazing that during this year of so much change, you have so beautifully held onto the relationships your formed at home. With me and Dad and Caroline. And also with your friends from home who are scattered all over the country now but still such an important part of your life.

It is hard to believe that last April 10th you hadn’t been to prom or graduated from high school. And now those days feel like such amazing memories but also like a life time ago. You left for Pittsburgh in August and immediately, you started adulting in the amazingly mature way I knew you would. You cared for yourself during a bout of strep in the early days of being away from home. You advocated for yourself in ways big and small. You tolerated an un-conditioned room during one heat wave after another. You adjusted to a schedule that felt nearly inhuman at times. There were so many times I wanted to get in the car and drive to you, to make things a bit easier but I knew I didn’t have to do that. I knew that you could take care of yourself with all the strength that has always been inside of you.

The other night you told me that friends kept forgetting that you weren’t yet 19. While 19 sounds so old to me (how can our littlest baby be turning 19?!), their feelings also make so much sense. You have always seemed older- and yes, please excuse the cliche!- wiser than your years.

I am so, so proud of you. I love you so much and can’t wait for you to be back home for the summer so very soon!

Happy Birthday Sweet Girl.

Love,

Mom