🎋Taylor’s Birthday🎋!!! by JoAnn

Today(Jan 17th), my youngest granddaughter Taylor, turned 17 years old!!! As I browsed through the many photos I have of her, my mind raced back and forth over the years of her beautiful young life. I’m still pinching myself that she is actually that old already.

Taylor has always been a ray of sunshine. I even nick-named her my Little Miss Sunshine when she was three years old. She has always entered a room with a smile on her face and a look of love in her eye. She has always been sassy, smart, helpful, and kind. She’s an extraordinary young lady. I feel blessed to call her my granddaughter.

As proud as I am of Taylor’s accomplishments, good grades, and the inevitable bright future she has before her, I’m not looking forward to her growing up. With that comes growing away as well. This time next year, she will be planning her senior prom and high school graduation. By then, she will also have plans for where she will attend college. My hopes are that she won’t be far away. Selfish, I know, but the thought of her not being near is more than my heart wants to take. Maybe I’ll get used to it in another year and a half.

Looking back on when I was 17, I remember feeling grown already. I always had a job, paid for many of my own needs, and couldn’t wait to graduate high school and venture out into the world as an individual. So then, why is it that I feel my granddaughters are too young to be doing those things? I am sure they are ready to move forward in their individual lives, just as every other teenager that takes that walk in their cap and gown and hears their name called in recognition.

It could be because I have already lived through it and know so many of the experiences my granddaughters have yet to have. Maybe it’s because I watched my three daughters go through so much. Perhaps I want to keep them small for just a little longer. Home safe with family where the evils of this world can be kept at bay. But then they would miss out on all the wonderful things the world has to offer them. So we must grin and bare it and hope for the best. Simply guide them in the direction we think is right, knowing they may go the opposite instead.

I hope that Taylor and her older sister Randi will continue to grow, learn, and enjoy life in every phase they go through. That they will be able to make it through all of the storms that life will definitely force upon them. That they will always come out the other side stronger and wiser. And that the good times will always outweigh the bad.

Here’s to another happy birthday in the books. May there be many more!