Conversations with Whitney

My daughter turns 13 on Sunday. Since all my Friday posts are dedicated to her, I’m going to celebrate her today. She is sugar and spice and snips and snails both. Girliest of girls; nails, curly hair, mascara and sleepovers. Shins covered in wood burns from diving in volleyball tournaments. Climbs trees. Plays video games. She has been one of the unexpected blessings of my life. When Steve and I got married he had 3 girls, I had Nate, and we thought 4 was enough. God knew it wasn’t, he knew we needed her. She is unpredictable, has been that way since she made her way into the world 10 days early. Sent me to the hospital 3 times before she actually put in her appearance. First two pains were two minutes apart, then seven, then four then nine, then two. She didn’t sleep all night until she started kindergarten, and still doesn’t sleep well. She is proof that sleeping disorders can be genetic. She sleeps as hard as her dad, it’s impossible to wake her up. She also suffers from insomnia like me. (May add to why she’s so hard to wake up.) She watches QVC to fall asleep. I love everything about this girl, but here are some specifics:

1. She finds humor in some of the dumbest things, and this is contagious. Like the word “hobo”.
2. She makes me laugh.
3. She is determined. She does not quit, she does not give up.
4. She told her dad after a particularly rough episode with one of her sisters that there would be “none of that teenage drama from me. I will be the good child.”
5. She knows how to forgive and put things behind her. I have seen her forgive some pretty rotten treatment.
6. She likes my adult friends. Wants to know about them, likes to meet them, wants to hear stories about them and loves to interact with them.
7. She makes me laugh. (I know I already listed this, but it is worth repeating.)
8. Saturday nights she will spend hours trying on different outfits with different shoes trying to decide what to wear to church. I love to watch this.

Here is a picture from her party with her brother, cousins, Nate and Cameron's girlfriends and my sister. Whitney is the second girl on the right side of the table.