Happy 18th, Erica!!

Today is my oldest grandchild's 18th birthday.

How did she get so old and I stayed the same??

Wow.  Just.  Wow.

I was looking for some baby pictures and there's nothing on this computer, because she's already lived longer than two of my laptops.  Not that THAT is a proper comparison or anything.

I remember the day my daughter told me she was pregnant.  We were in a Baker's Square restaurant having lunch.  She told me she had probably conceived while DH and I were in Hawaii, celebrating our 30th anniversary.  Our one and only big vacation as a couple.  I was still on jet lag.  I think she took me to lunch so that I wouldn't have any distractions when she told me the news.

I cried.

Well, that's not news exactly.  I cry at weddings and baby showers and all highly emotional occasions, like my son's band playing at the local tavern.  Ha ha...

So the day she was born I was rudely awakened at 1:15 a.m. by the phone.

"Hi Mom, it's me, my water broke."

"Did you call your doctor?"

"Not yet.  My first impulse is always 'call my mom'..."

"OK, call your doctor and then call me later and let me know when you're at the hospital."

I tried to go back to sleep.  Ha ha.  I had to go to Madison for work.  People were expecting me for a training class I was teaching.  That was a 90 minute trip at the time.

At 8:00 when I arrived I got a call from DH.  "She's in the hospital and things are going fine."

OK, let's get that class going so I can get back to the family.  About 10:30 he called again.  "The baby's backwards and they're doing a G-section."

"You mean C-section."

"Whatever.  They're going into the operating room now."

"OK, call me when you have more news."

I finished the class and they were just setting up lunch when he called again.  "We have a baby girl."

OK, I knew that, from the ultrasound a few months prior.  So I asked "How big was she, what did she weigh?"

"Oh, I don't know.  I forgot to ask."

LOL!!!  Husbands, men, whatever!

Anyway, I drove back to where we lived, dropped my stuff off and went to the hospital to meet my first grandchild.  She was so tiny then, although she was an average size for a baby.  And so sweet and lovely even then.

 I have dozens of photos of her cute little face and beautiful brown eyes... This is the only one I could find on this computer, it's of her as a small child.

But here she is now, a stunning beauty, with brains and talent to boot.

Happy birthday, baby girl!

Rock the day!