Embryonic Stage
So comfy and warm
Not feeling a hint of harm
Oh, what’s happening
Birth
Good grief, it’s so cold
O’er and o’er again was told
“Beautiful baby”
Child Age
Play sports, make good grades
Life’s full of adventure days
Hates vegetables
Teen Years
It’s an awkward age
Parents struggle through this stage
Just stay sane through it
Young Adult Years
Leaving home first time
Into unknown, a steep climb
Where will it all end
Middle Adult Years
Work and family
Agony and ecstasy
Stalwart day by day
Older Adult Years
Body , soul, and mind
Seeking peace of special kind
Beyond ever known
One for my comfy onesie, a word not invented yet in 1953.
Two twins – me and my sis against the world
Three favorite foods now are mashed potatoes, corn and chili beans
Four times the fun when our two cousins come over
Five means we get to go to school; we are in room five
Six and losing teeth fast, learning to rhyme- six, fix, icks, micks, licks
Seven – my grandpa went to heaven, on November 7
Eight cousins now, five girls and three boys, a tasty number for grandma
Nine and learning my multiplication table, nines are the most fun!
Ten little Indians – a movie that brings me to Agatha Christie’s books
Eleven, two one’s , double sticks, my legs look like an eleven
Twelve – one of my friends dies of cancer, twelve o’clock funeral
Thirteen -awkward age, I feel thirteen other girls are smarter and prettier
Fourteen – a boy much older is staring at me, is this the fourteenth hour?
Fifteen – I become best friends with my husband; he is an annoying fifteen
Sixteen- nothing sweet about it; no sweet sixteenth party in the Midwest
Seventeen – I am working full time at Super Value Store number 17
Eighteen – hopeful for the future, will graduate on May the 18th.
Thirteen is a baker’s dozen,
Or a scary Friday night.
Missing in an elevator,
Or a 12-year-old’s delight.
Rite of passage from a tweener,
Cooler in so many ways.
Does it bring a new demeanor?
That’s for others to appraise.
An impish grin and razor wit
Make it hard to guess the years.
Daddy’s girl still loves to snuggle;
Raging, crying, full of tears.
Thirteen is an awkward age, yes,
Not a child, but not yet grown.
A scant few years, she’ll spring the cage;
My oh my, the years have flown!
So here is our birthday prayer:
May your year abound in glee.
Careful to avoid the pitfalls;
led by Christ, our precious Ree.
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(a birthday card inscription on the occasion of Ree’s 13th birthday, so, a few years ago)
I wasn’t there when she was small
To see her scrape her knee
Or ride her bike around the block
Or scramble up a tree
Or listen all about her day
And what she did at school
How Lisa was her new best friend
But all the boys were fools
I wasn’t there when bedtime came
And nightmares made her weep
To hold her in my arms until
She drifted off to sleep
And when she reached that awkward age
I wasn’t there to say
You’re beautiful my little girl
You’ll realize that some day
And when she had her first real date
I wasn’t there back then
To give her boy my sternest look
And growl “be home by ten”
But I’m here now to be the dad
I couldn’t be before
To tell her what she means to me
I couldn’t love her more
How proud I am of how she’s grown
Through hurts and fears and lows
How smart and charming she’s become
Her fiery passionate soul
I can’t make up the time I’ve missed
Those years we were apart
But now and even when I’m gone
She’ll have her father’s heart