A Letter to my Daughter on her 1st Birthday

Dearest Audrey,

Happy 1st Birthday, my most beautiful girl.
This will be my 1st of many birthday letters to you. Someday, I hope you'll appreciate the gesture...a public proclamation of my love for you and my celebration of what each year has brought to your life and mine.
This year has surely been the most challenging and most rewarding of my life.
Nobody could have prepared me for the journey you have brought me to.
It doesn't seem possible that that tiny little person you were just 365 days ago has turned into a walking, talking, sippy cup drinking-out-of little blondie.
I have probably paused at least 100 times during the last 12 months to stare in wonder and reflect on how one tiny little cell developed into such a grand little person.

I worked so hard to make something out of myself professionally and personally, yet you have become and will always be my greatest masterpiece, my symphony.

I have so many hopes for you, great hopes that may seem minimal to you right now, but someday you will understand the importance of them: That you would be honest and have a heart that understands and loves other people, compassionate; that you would be governed by love and fairness and know and embrace the person that God has molded you into; that you would maintain a sense of silliness that I already see inside you.
Don't rush through your life like I feel I have often done. Don't pass others on your way to where you are going that may need your help along the way.
Be slow to anger or offer a word that might hurt another. I have struggled to keep my opinion in check and wish often that instead of being disparaging, I would realize so often that what I am critical about in others is usually something I recognize as a fault in myself. Know who you are, even the not-so-great parts and don't be too hard on yourself.
Appreciate now that you will probably be taller than most of the boys and will probably spend most of your life in the back row of pictures. But go ahead and wear high heels anyway. I have always envied girls who are tall and still can pull off a nice pair of heels.
This year has gone by faster than a wink, and I can't wait to see what your next year has in store for you and the rest of us who love you and center so much around you.
I will end this love letter by saying Thank you. Thank you for every sleepless night( Your dad is 100 times cuter with a sleeping baby in his arms), for every ounce of spit-up on my work shirts(I probably looked better in the second or third outfit anyway), for every snotty tissue I ran through the wash( I got better at checking the pockets), for every smile, for every first, for everything.

Always Yours,

Mom