My daughter, Nikky, is the best contribution that I could give to this world. In turn, she has given the world my granddaughter, Bella Grace, the best contribution she could leave with this world. However, Nikky's contributions, in her first thirty seven years, driven by her own desires and her collaboration with her family, are far more than I have ever begun to give in my life time. I cannot say how much I love her drive, her zeal, her wisdom and her wit. From the time she was a little girl, skirting the edge of the sidewalk and falling off her trike turning to look at me with flashing eyes and exclaiming, "I am NOT going to say DAMMIT!", to her present day short, smiley faced texts of encouragement, she has added and continues to add great depth and dimension to my life. For this, I am grateful.
Happy birthday, Nikky! Have a wonderful Easter, birthday weekend! Saying that just reminded me of your three year old birthday, which skirted Easter. We got your cake at Sip-N-Dip, which back then was always full of coffee drinkers and smokers. It was a beautiful cake with an Easter theme, and when we cut into it and anxiously took our first bites, it tasted like stale cigarettes! Ahhh, but you deserved better. It makes me smile just to think of it. Two years later, we found you a recording for your birthday of a song that you sang with gusto, "NOW I'M FIVE"! You always wanted to be a "big" girl. Love you, Nik, to the moon!
Happy birthday, Nikky! Have a wonderful Easter, birthday weekend! Saying that just reminded me of your three year old birthday, which skirted Easter. We got your cake at Sip-N-Dip, which back then was always full of coffee drinkers and smokers. It was a beautiful cake with an Easter theme, and when we cut into it and anxiously took our first bites, it tasted like stale cigarettes! Ahhh, but you deserved better. It makes me smile just to think of it. Two years later, we found you a recording for your birthday of a song that you sang with gusto, "NOW I'M FIVE"! You always wanted to be a "big" girl. Love you, Nik, to the moon!
Like a Tree
The little French girl chattered through the chain link fence
and Nikky, beginning her world of international connections,
turned to me with a quirky look
on her two-year-old face and asked, "What did she said?"
She shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of waters that
bringeth forth its fruit
in due season.
Six months beyond my mastectomy and chemo,
seventeen year old Nikky, independent, even then, and observant,
invited me to lunch, when she said to me intently,
"Mom, you are going to live."
She shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of waters that
bringeth forth its fruit
in due season.
That observant little girl became a wise teenager and even wiser adult,
and now my thirty-seven-year old daughter, whom I love with all my heart,
I give you these words from Psalms as a gift,
And She "shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of waters which
bringeth forth its fruit
in due season".
And I am in awe at the abundance and beauty of your fruits.
Happy Birthday! Love Always, Mom
