She's 16!!!

I still cannot believe today is my niece E's 16th birthday! It completely shocks me to my core. And makes me feel like I am 100 years old! I was just 10 years old when she was born. And it seems like yesterday. My parents and I had decided to go to the cabin for the 4th of July. My grandparents lived across the street. A dirt road actually. Early in the morning, my grandma came to tell us that E had been born. It was a girl! S had a new little sister. We were so excited. It would be a few days before we got to meet the newest addition to our family. E would remain close to us, all these years later. Going to the cabin and claiming her very own bedroom.

The memories I have of E are all too hilarious! Her first visit to the cabin left E sleeping in a dresser drawer. We pulled the drawer out, emptied it, placed a few blankets inside, and she slept soundly through the night. Her first Christmas, her family came to visit us at the cabin. She wanted to see the snow falling. All at once, she knocked S (her older sister, 2 and 1/2 at the time) off the small step stool and into the Christmas tree. All you saw was the tree fall down, S hit the floor crying, and E proudly perched on the stool looking out the window.

A few years later, we took E and her younger sister N to the mountains for a few days. It was summer time. My mom and I decided to bake cookies with the girls. At the time they were maybe 3 and 4. We were going to make peanut butter cookies and M&M cookies. Immediately the girls were fighting about who was going to make what. E had already chosen to help my mom. My mom was making the peanut butter cookies. E was not happy at all! N was so excited to be baking with the mini M&Ms. My mom tried to show E that you get to make designs with a fork for the peanut butter cookies. She was not having it! Not even when my mom showed her how to dunk the warm cookies in sugar.

After the baking was done, and we had had dinner, the girls proudly gave grandpa a taste of their treasured cookies. We all tasted both kinds. Everyone seemed happy. They went to bed quite happy that night. Only for me to find N sitting outside their shared bedroom crying. E had thrown her out. I picked up N and took her to my room for the night. E was all too happy to have the bed to herself! :O)

I think about the things she did as a kid. They still make me smile. How many times did she button the top button of my Dad's shirt? I always remember her sitting at the kitchen table working hard at her homework. And that proud day she graduated from the 8th grade with honors.

Her life has not been easy. She had a tough start to life. At one point, we didn't think she would see her 1st birthday. E spent so much time in the PICU. She struggled with an illness for years. Her parents separation, and the fight over her and her sisters. Which ultimately ended in the separation of sisters. It has been a tough road. One in which she has overcome so very much! I am so proud of E. She is now a slimmer version of herself, much healthier I might add. She is in high school, and on the Honor Roll. E even works at a hospital. I am so very proud of the young woman that she is becoming. Now we just need to schedule a "Girls Day" to celebrate 16 wonderful years!

XOXO
♥D