This is a poem I wrote for my daughter when she turned 15.  Today she turned 30, and I feel just the same.

Happy Birthday, dear Jaime.
Today you were born.
Yet our lives were connected
long before that bright morn.

From the moment I knew
you had formed and were growing,
I sang and I loved you long before I was “showing”.

I thanked God every night
for your laughing big brother,and my heart bulged with joy
at the thought of another.

In my prayers I asked God
every night of the week, for a healthy pink girl
with a soft, silky cheek.

In the tense anxious moments
before you breathed air,
“Please God, … a girl …”
I said one last prayer.

Jaime Judith you are
and how I’ve enjoyed you…
your smile, your mermaid dance,
your made-up songs, your every hairdo.

There were tea parties, braided hair,
and wide skirted dresses,
singing, dancing, drawing,
and cleaning kitchen messes.

It’s been thirty years
The time’s passed in a whirl.
I thank God every day
for my beautiful girl.