23!

Sometimes when I see her....when she first appears on the scene after she's been gone for awhile....she takes my breath away.....this little girl. my first born.  It's been quite a year for her.  I know at this point last year she had no idea where she would be or what she would be doing this past year.  The stars were all aligned and a few angels were watching over her and guiding her and Cara ended up with a full time job and an apartment in Yonkers, going into Manhattan to work on her grad work at the same time. It felt just like moving her into a dorm room at first...but for the first time, she didn't move back home this summer...because she is all grown up and has her own apartment and just comes home to visit now.  Luckily for  me....she is just down the road a piece for now.

She has had to wade through adult things...paying bills, managing money figuring out insurance....trying to balance work and school when schedules don't always mesh.  But she is loving being on her own...making her own rules, experimenting with recipes and indulging her quirky sense of humor and obsessions with music(....this is serious business to Cara....), all things cats, Disney and Broadway....just to name a few.

Being an adult and on your own can be fun....but you also start to realize some of the struggles of adult life.  Even so....I think there is a beauty that comes to a young woman when she begins to feel confident and taking control of her life....and I see it in Cara...this confidence and the process of feeling comfortable in her own skin.  My first born baby girl has never looked more beautiful to me.

I know there will be stresses and struggles this year, that is a part of life....and I hope that we as a family can help her through them.  But more than that...... I know she often feels isolated...she has friends at work, friends at school, friends from college, friends from home...but often, not someone to watch a movie with or just hang out and chat with.  I hope that as she gets more comfortable in her surroundings she is able to find her people there....that make her life there even better.

In the meantime....I am super proud of her and all she has accomplished and all of the ways she has grown and with all my heart I wish that this year is filled with exciting adventures, good friends and dreams come true.

“But kids don't stay with you if you do it right. It's the one job where, the better you are, the more surely you won't be needed in the long run.” 

~ Barbara Kingsolver