She likes to listen to her birth story. The tale of how she was almost born on our front steps. Well not really, but it makes for good dramatic effect. And it was a little tight getting to the hospital which was only 20 blocks away. There was also the bit about being delivered by nurses. The doctor didn’t make it across the hospital, which is only 3 floors tall. Apparently, nobody believed she was going to be born, that quickly.

That was just the first of many interesting characteristics which have helped define my daughter. She is extremely independent, yet fiercely loyal. She tends to talks non-stop, which would indicate thoughts are coming and going, yet she can pull a single promise out of conversation and remember it forever. She possesses great self-confidence in most areas, including skiing down a hill, but no matter how many times we load the chair lift, she is sure the next time she will fall.

A girl of contradictions, hard to pin down and categorize. She walks to her own beat. I remember being her age, forging my way in the world. We are similar, yet different. Appropriate, I think.