It’s Magoo’s golden birthday. Do the math, and you’ll find out she’s 17 years old. When she was little, I had already begun to fear her teen years, for good reason. She was 97% sweet, lovable, fun, and a delight to be around. She was 3% unbridled anger, stubborness, and a roller coaster of emotions. I’ll admit it, I couldn’t control her. In my estimation, it wasn’t from lack of trying or lack of forcefulness on our part. Timeouts? She’d sit in them for hours with clenched teeth and a face of stone. Spankings? Yeah, we gave them. I’d spank her, and she, with her little 3 foot body and big brown eyes, would stare up at me straight in the eye, unblinking, and declare “That. Did. Not. Hurt.” I’d spank her again… harder. “That. Did. Not. Hurt.” Again, harder. Tears streaming down her face now. “That. Did. Not. Hurt.” Well, of course I was the one who had to stop for fear of hurting her, the spanking at least, but the punishment would continue. We tried positive reinforcement, and negative reinforcement, and ignoring, and everything under the sun.

Do you know what eventually worked? She grew up, and she learned we trusted her and she could trust us. But that’s a subject for me to ramble about on another day. If she was that strong willed and emotional as a little girl, what kind of person would she be when she had the added pressure of hormones and teen stresses in her life? I was kind of bracing myself for many years that SweetGuy and I would butt heads with Magoo.

Instead, my fears did not come to pass. As parents, we had the extraordinary pleasure of watching a flower bloom into an amazing beauty with roots of pure steel. Her laugh, her wit, her smarts, her joy, her grit, and most of all her obvious tenderness and caring for all those around her make me feel… proud isn’t the right word. Because I can take no credit for it. I’ll give SweetGuy some credit because Dads have extraordinary influence and he’s an extraordinary Dad, but apart from a bit from SweetGuy, I think the main credit goes two places. The Lord first. Magoo has been prayed for since long before she was born or even conceived. And Magoo has long since given Him control of her life. And, second, it goes to Magoo. Somewhere along the line she stopped screaming and fighting and decided she would be a woman of emotional balance and extreme substance. And she is.

And… one more thing. She’s crazy. Oh my, DO NOT PLAY MARIO KART with this girl! Run people.  Fear for your lives. That unbridled anger of her youth? It’s not gone. It’s just hidden deep down and the combination for opening Magoo’s crazy anger safe is unlocked by MARIO KART. Poor, poor Bud. Magoo and I were playing in his room while he was foolishly trying to nap. Magoo was leading a race, shrieking, and violently bouncing up and down when she was passed at the very last second by a car from the computer’s team. Her reaction? She beat Bud silly with a WiiMote. He deserved it because he was trying to take a nap and she lost at Mario Kart. Her logic is flawless. We’re hiding all the WiiMotes.

Magoo, you are pure joy in our lives. We are grateful for every second of these 17 years with you (except for those few moments you were beating Bud with the WiiMote, oh and there was the broken closet incident of ‘97 — that was unfortunate). One more year until you are officially an adult. But, you are so grown up to us now, it doesn’t feel like we are parenting anymore as much as we are (hopefully) trusted advisors.  

Happy Birthday Girl!!

The inconvenient truth is that global warming began in June of 1989.  The 14th day to be precise.  The day of the birth of AUBS - not Aubs or even AUBS – but always AUBS – a bold and all caps young woman if I ever saw one.  Our niece is 19 today. 

She came home from the hospital after her birth, promptly slept for 14 days straight, and then began to light up the earth.  She hasn’t stopped warming the world since.  Early on, with a smile on her face, she refused to keep her clothes on to the point that her mother had to put duct tape around her diaper.  A bit later, with a smile on her face she became this solid little bruiser who danced around the room with wide eyes and a sweet, but LOUD, giggle.  Down the road a bit more, she beamed and questioned, questioned, questioned, QUESTIONED any adult within earshot.  Then, she put her game face on and tore up the ballfield and track, and hugged, smiled, and belly-laughed the microsecond the competition ended.

Just this past year, even through an honest and open struggle with discovering herself, she would smile through the tears and still lift everyone around her.  I swear it is because she runs through life brightening up every setting she enters that global warming is a problem. 

AUBS, you are one amazing young woman.  We are so thankful to have you in our lives.  Do not EVER stop smiling and making our world a warmer place.  Enjoy your last teenage year and keep letting the Lord use you to smile on others!!

Have the happiest of birthdays, AUBS!!

Seems like the first time I heard of Relay for Life was I don’t know, maybe 8 years ago or so.  I heard a bunch of people were walking around a track for 24 hours straight to raise money for charity.  To be honest, I thought it seemed like a particularly lame idea.  I think raising money for charity is great of course, but still, you should raise it if it’s a decent return on investment.  You have to be wise about it.  For instance, if some high school group puts in 50 of hours of work getting ready and manning a car wash, let’s say, and they make $75, I don’t consider that a very good return on investment.  I figured this Relay for Life thing had to be a poor return on investment, as well as ah, super boring.  Walking around a track for 24 hours, even with a few people you like, is not how I want to spend my ENTIRE Friday night.

It’s a good thing there are awesome people in this world who have a much greater vision and sense about these things than I do.  If not, then the American Cancer Society would be missing a lot of valuable research dollars.  You see, this Relay for Life thing is very, very cool.

I initially saw it firsthand a few years ago when Bud joined a team and participated.  I wandered up to the local high school to take him a cooler his team needed.  (So, Bud, I have never seen that cooler again, did you know that?)  Whooaaa, I walked into this tent city, Woodstock kind of place.  Tents and coolers and music and people, and funny costumes, and kids tossing balls and Frisbees everywhere!  Oh, and there were even some folks walking around the track.  Look around, and to a man, every person wore a smile.  This was an EVENT.  Everyone was not only having a great time, but they were raising scads of money for the American Cancer Society. 

Fast forward a few years, and now Magoo is the co-captain of a team of 17 impressive high school students.  She’s put in incredible work getting ready for this, as has everyone on her team.  Listen, there is no adult doing anything for this team, except donating a little money.  They’ve arranged their tent, coolers, clothes, flags, food, and donations 100% on their own.  Magoo and her cohorts have made phone calls, run errands, bought supplies, made more phone calls, gone to meetings, made a mess of my kitchen, and trolled for donations.  And now they walk the track, and have a lot of fun, for 24 hours and then some.  What are teens coming to these days.  Worthless goof-offs.

Bud isn’t on a team, but he’s going to hang out and help anyway.  And, last night, he quietly fumbled around for his checkbook that he’s used about 4 times in his life and asked Magoo who he should make a check out to for a donation.  Her face brightened and she told him.  He wrote it, wondering aloud if he’d done it correctly and handed it over to her, not looking for any attention whatsoever.  I snuck a peak, and he’d written a check for twice the amount of any adult who had contributed to Magoo’s campaign.  I don’t write this to call out the old people for being cheap, cause they have been very, very generous.  But, Bud, who can last a month on $20 with change to spare, gave so generously without hesitation or seeking attention.  Sorry, guy, I’m giving it to you whether you want it or not.  I’m a Mom, I can do such things.

There’s a phrase that’s probably used too often, but I suppose because it is just reality – “We are all affected by cancer” – and we are.  These kids’ grandfather died April 26th of lung cancer.  Their grandmother has it, and an aunt just went into remission.  It’s oh so unfortunately touching their lives, and they are responding in a spectacular way. 

So, to the people that thought up Relay for Life, to those that coordinate it, to all those who participate and donate, to the kids on Magoo’s team, and to Magoo and Bud – you are doing a good, no, a very, very, very good thing.