My beloved eldest daughter came into the world on 29 March 2005 like a firework, and she has been filling me with same overwhelming awe and joy that I felt when I first saw her ever since. Blossom has been in my life for 12 glorious years now, and I cannot fathom how my world could have possibly been interesting and happy before she was in it. I mean, I know it WAS, but it seems so pale in comparison to a life with Blossom zipping through it and lighting the sky.
She is so grown up these days; a full tween on the cusp of teenager. For one thing, she has had a major growth spurt in the last year. Blossom is 5’5”now and looks like she’s 15 already. She has strong tastes in music, is learning to code, draws constantly, reads voraciously (she’s a chip off the old bookworm!), sings from the heart, plays violin too brashly but with feeling, loves without reserve or qualms, and has days of extreme crankiness. My sweet Blossom has also been getting into trouble for her tone of voice, inasmuch as she can be very sassy with the backchat to her dear parents. There are a few hours here and there when a surly girly sulks around the living room sniping at people.
Ah, the delightfulness of hormones.
She is also still just a little girl. She has that wonder in life and pleasure that only children really seem to have. It is like she is made of 99.5% KEEN. Her enthusiasm for everything – for learning, for music, for art – has made her somewhat of a favorite at school. She can also still be silly and play, unlike many tweens/teens who try to cultivate an air of permanent boredom to denote their intrinsic coolness. Here she is at Little Moreton Hall in Derbyshire, enjoying the Tudor garb they have for people to try on:
She was an adorable Tudor, and she did her best to pose for me like she’s seen in 16th century portraits. Here she is in one of the recreated bedrooms in the Hall, posing by a replica cradle:
She managed to look more like she was auditioning for Charlie’s Angels than sitting for Hans Holbein, but nonetheless I found it utterly charming.
Today, I am taking her to get her ears pierced again, and she’s promised to be more careful with them than she was when she was ten. She is also becoming more interested in fashion, in that she wants to wear clothes that are in style so she matches her friends. (Thankfully, she has a school uniform, so she doesn’t have to worry about it most of the time.) Blossom is getting a new outfit to go with her pierced ears, which she will wear to her birthday party on Sunday. She is, of course, incredibly excited about her party.
As part of her birthday, I asked her what she wanted to do when she grew up, like I do every year. She thought for a second and then told me, “What I really want to do is make the world a better place, but if you mean like for work and stuff I think I want to be an actress but a computer programmer on the side so I can have money in between acting jobs. I am also going to be a mom. I think I’ll have boys though.”
Oh, darling Blossom – you already make the world a better place. I hope that all your other dreams come true as well.
