So I just celebrated my baby girl’s 18th birthday on Tuesday and let me tell you I was a hot mess! I had a whirlwind of emotions pick me up and drag me around then un-gingerly drop me at a table of 20 friends and family sharing dinner with the birthday girl, the majority of people around her played a huge part in the woman she is today. And I think we both recognized that as we looked around, I have never met another person in the world like Jori. She is so full of life and fearless abandon, my toast at dinner probably summed up my cluster of feelings I experienced through the day
“Jori, you are an amazing person and I couldn’t have picked a more perfect person to grow up with”
I’ll be honest I love flare and drama…… so when I heard the little quivery sniffle from my mother sitting next to me I knew I nailed it. I had summed up 18 years of “Mom, Jori super glued my armpit shut” to “I just need to leave Mom, I need to see the world, I want to live in a city, chase after a bus, sleep in a park and paint everything and everyone and he is wanting to share that with me” being so young when I had her I have to tell you for awhile there I did buy into the whole “teenage mother catastrophe” ruining lives and taking names. I assumed every negative thing people said about the situation held some merit, but truth be told looking at the beautiful woman across the table we proved everyone wrong. She is brilliant, charismatic, unique and giving. The best part is I can take credit for a bit of it, as can the woman sitting next to me, her Nana. Three of us, with help from so many, accomplished that goal we had when the doctor introduced us all that night in January 18 years earlier. It would be impossible to catalogue every life altering moment Jori gave me but I wouldn’t change a single one. So in the midst of my brother swearing and mocking the waiter, Triston shocking his Nana with horrid graphic video on his cell phone I shared a moment with my daughter, we both understood what it took to get to where we were, and that although the getting there was unforgettable the fact that we were there held pride in itself.
i just read this && i cried. she i literally the best person i know. she knows what she wants && where she wants to go. she smiles && she lights up a room. iam grateful for her being in my life. i can honestly say that the best thing my dad ever did for me was marry you. i honestly don't know where i would be without jori or without you. if someone where to ask me who my hero was i would without a doubt say my sister jori. she is a beautiful woman full of life.
ReplyDeletei love you && thanks for sharing this.