My shining star

My Tanna had a birthday on Thursday. This is the year I have decided to write a tribute to each of my children on the day they were born. I was away on Thursday (yep, another blog for another time) and between checking 297 emails, shifting design work to another day, getting Jaden registered for school, going through icky bills and getting the house back in order, I thought I would take a break and write about my girl.

My parents had come to California to see my baby be born. Nope. I had no idea if I was having a boy or a girl. I love the surprise and I love hearing the doctor say "It's a boy." or "It's a girl." Not much in my life has brought me as much joy. When the doctor said "It's a girl." I wept. I was beyond thrilled. She had taken her sweet old time getting here and OF COURSE it was by her own rules and on her own timeline.

I was VERY pregnant when Mark and I decided to invite my mom and dad to the birth of our baby. Normally, I feel like births should only be shared by the parents of the baby, but since my mother had never given birth (we are all adopted) I wanted her to experience this special moment.

My parents drove from Utah to California and we waited. And waited. And waited. And went to the hospital 30 miles away. False labor. Home we went. Went back to the hospital. False labor. Home again. What the crap? Went for a high speed boat ride. Bingo. August 4th came and along with the sunshine? Well, you know the rest of the story. A star was born.

Tanna has always been a beauty. As a baby, I would take her shopping and people would walk aisles over to gaze at her. Inevitably they let me know that I had the most beautiful baby they had ever seen. And they were right. Wow. Was this girl something.

As soon as she could form thoughts, Tanna decided right away who the boss of our household would be. Need I say that adults were not part of the chain of command? Well, they weren't. Tanna was boss. CEO. Commander in Chief.

Those who have met Tanna have witnessed that this girl holds NOTHING back. There are times that people don't want to hear what she has to say. Too bad for them. She says it anyway.

My favorite memory of Tanna developed before she could walk. Tanna was crawling. By crawling, I mean she had this oh-my-gosh-I'm-gonna-die army fling her arms in front of herself and pull with all her might scoot. The boys had gone outside to play. Tanna scooted/crawled/flung herself to the front screen door. The bottom screen was missing and next thing you heard was Tanna hollering at the boys in her garbled I-don't-understand-a-thing-you-are-saying voice, all the while wagging her finger at them and laying out the rules in no uncertain terms.

As Tanna grew, her beauty increased and kindness became part of her demeanor. Tanna will and HAS given to everyone she knows. Her strength in spirit has been shared and at times has been taken advantage of by fellow human beings. I FOREVER am saying to this girl "If you don't take care of you, who will?"

Some of my most epic adventures have happened with this girl. There was the time that a moth the size of a BIRD (I'm not kidding) flew at our car while we were at an intersection waiting for the light to turn. We both screamed and flung ourselves out of the car. Yeah, I know, we went right into the supposed lions den. Whatever. I was getting as far away from that moth/bird as I could possibly get. Except we had left Jaden to fend for himself while strapped in his carseat. Oops.

We laughed and laughed until we were all laughed out. Then we laughed some more. To this day, periodically, one of us will say "remember that moth?" and we ERUPT into uncontrollable laughter yet again.

Tanna loves music. I mean, this girl loves music. She listens to chords and lyrics and beats and rhythm with intensity. There isn't a new song released that I don't immediately think "I wonder if Tanna has heard this."

I'm going to end with song lyrics. Know I love this girl more that words can say. I love her beauty. Her calm. Her crazy. Her smile. I adore her laugh. Her kindness. Her drive. Her honesty.

If you have shared all or part of these things from my girl, you, my friend, have witnessed a shining star. You will carry her in your heart forever. How lucky are you?

Star
Bryan Adams
Written for the movie Jack.

What ya wanna be when you grow up?

What ya gonna do when your time is up?

What ya gonna say when things go wrong?

What ya gonna do when you're on your own?

There's a road...

Long and winding

The lights are blinding but it gets there.

Don't give up.

Don't look back.

There's a silver lining

Out there somewhere.

Everbody wants an answer.

Everybody needs a friend.

We all need a shining star on which we can depend.

So tonight we're gonna wish upon a star

We never wished upon before.

There'll be times

In your life

When you'll be dancing, but you ain't getting it.

Don't get disillusioned, no don't expect too much

'Cuz if what you have is all you can get

Just keep trying

It just ain't happened yet.

Everybody wants to be a winner.

Everybody has a dream.

We all need a shining star

When things ain't what they seem.

So tonight we're gonna wish upon a star

We've never wished upon before.

Everybody wants some kindness.

Everybody needs a break.

We all need a shining star when things get hard to take.

So tonight we're gonna wish upon a star

We've never wished upon before.