Without My Daughter

My daughter turned 16 today, and it made me think. Her birth was traumatizing and painful. We were both near death and spent over a week in intensive care. But ever since day one that little girl has been a fireball that crashed into my existence, and a little thing like a life-threatening disease in her lungs wasn't about to get the best of her, even if she was only a helpless, newborn baby. She fought like the dickens, and nobody ever told her to stop.

She doesn't like to be told what to do or think, but she does plenty of doing and thinking. She is the kind of person who stands up for kids who have no friends, gives all of her pennies to a homeless man so he can buy jeans without holes, realizes what she said is ridiculous after she already has the attention of everyone in the room, dyes her hair and then regrets it, begs to go to a concert and then begs to get out of it, and when someone expects her to behave in a certain manner, she will do the opposite.

Her birth alone cost a fortune, but since then she has cost me and her dad several more fortunes. One time she ruined our carpet by spreading vaseline all over it. She dyed all of her clothes a deep shade of red by dumping packages of cherry kool-aid into the kiddie pool and emptying her drawers into the red concoction. She put a large gash in the side of her dad's truck by scraping it along a stop sign. She has never met a tire she can't pop, she ironed - and melted - the carpet in her bedroom, and spilled nail polish on every blanket and comforter we own.

Without my daughter I'd probably have a nice dent-free car, lovely unripped furniture, and a table without the finish removed by acetone. I wouldn't feel the need to buy every new shampoo that hits the market or a closet full of self-tanning lotions. I wouldn't invest in every new gadget that seems sleeker than the six month old version. I wouldn't eat out so often, and I wouldn't go to as many movies.

Without my daughter, my bank account would probably reach into the millions, and in my heart I would feel utterly destitute. All my nice possessions would be as important to me as dust. She has colored my life with limitless love, endless surprise, spontaneity, laughter, and meaning.

Without my daughter, I'd be the poorest millionaire on earth.

Happy Birthday Makenna. Your birth is a miracle that is still happening.