Cheyenne Westfall Today is your birthday and of course, I am in shock at how fast the time has gone. You have grown up to be a wonderful young lady and I cherish each moment I get to spend time with you. Twenty years ago, I fell in love with you. At 12:20pm on July16, 1994, you took your first breath outside my womb and made your presence known. Until that moment, I had never before witnessed perfection. Until that moment, I didn’t know love could be so big and so strong. God sent me a gift. A gift, that filled my existence with love, joy and happiness. That gift was everything. That gift was you. Before I ever laid eyes on your tiny face or watched you breathe deeply your first breath, I was being changed forever. Awareness of being given a great trust and the privilege of influencing a tiny eternal little soul can do that to a mother. I felt overwhelming love deep in my bones when I held you. From that day on, I have fallen in love with you another 7,300 times, basically every day I have known you. My heart is bigger because of you. My touch is gentler because of you. My instincts are kinder because of you. My soul is filled with gratitude and hope and optimism because of you. I am excited about the future because of you. Its now 20 years later and you have grown to be a wonderful, mature-beyond-your-age, young woman. As you begin to live your 21st year on earth, I am filled with pride and love for what youve become and for what youve yet to become. And I am not referring to material success. What we all want the most as parents is that our children are happy. I am no exception. However, happiness can be elusive. Its mostly all in the mind and in the heart. Its not so much in the hand were dealt, but in what we do with it. As someone wrote a long time ago - there is no path to happiness, happiness is the path. Easier said than done, I know, but if youre aware of it your journey in life can be more pleasant. There will always be obstacles to overcome, goals youll want to reach, pain youll have to go through and unexpected good and bad surprises. Through it all, always remember how fortunate you are and dont forget those less fortunate. If you find yourself single, remember that to make someone happy, you must first be happy with yourself. When things go wrong (and there will always be times when things go wrong). Dont feel guilty about taking a break. If you cant afford a vacation, go to a park or a lake nearby on a warm Spring afternoon and absorb nature. Forget about life for a while. Tahiti can be a state of mind, not just a physical place. If you find yourself single again and meet someone who really moves you, tell him (when you grow old, you will regret more the things that you wanted to do, but didnt try to do). If anyone negatively and needlessly criticizes you, remember they must be struggling too and they do it to make themselves feel better: Finally, now that you are 20, you may start to glimpse a life away from your parents. Its the natural way, the way of nature. Happily this is not going to happen tomorrow, but you, as most of us, will probably start your own independent life journey in the next few years. Know, without a scintilla of a doubt, that as long as I am alive, I will always be here for you to help you in any way, to comfort you if you need comfort, to advise you if you want our advice. And of course to share the good times to come. So many times as parents, we make the mistake of pushing our children into an assumed state and hope that they assume we love them because of the things we do, the things we allow, and the things we buy. Today, I do not want YOU to assume-I want you to know just how much I love you and how much you mean to me. I wish for you the stars. I wish for you everything and then add to that infinity. I wish great love for you, wherever you find it. I wish that your dreams, whatever they may be, come true and if they don’t, that you make them happen. I wish for you all of the beauty of the world, but the sadness too, because sadness makes you stronger and sadness makes the happy moments seem even more joyful. I will always cherish the wonderful times we spend together and those to come. The best part of my life is being your Mom. Wishing you the very best birthday ever. Happy Birthday, I love you!
Posted on: Wed, 16 Jul 2014 11:10:18 +0000
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