And Now....20!

Today we have a momentous milestone here at the Fortress of Ineptitude. 

Today is the birthday of my daughter Randie.

And not just any birthday but her 20th. 

I'm not sure how I feel about that. 

If time wants to move along and turn my daughter into an adult, that's one thing but does it have to drag me along too? 

Randie does not like it when her mother and I get wistfully nostalgic for when she was a baby. 

Life was admittedly different then.

When Randie was a baby, my favorite thing to do when she was lying on the floor, the couch or the bed was to take her tiny feet in my hands and move her pudgy little legs around while I sang a song that I made up.

"You got a foot! Yeah! Yeah!
You got a foot! Yeah! Yeah!
You got a foot with five toes on the end of it!
You got another foot!  
You got another foot!  
You got another foot with five toes on the end of it!
You got two feet! Yeah! Yeah!
You got two feet! Yeah! Yeah!
You got two feet with ten toes on the end of them!
Two feet and ten toes! 
And that's how my little song goes!"

Baby Randie would smile and giggle with delight.

20 year old Randie? Eh, not so much. 

The thing is that while our baby daughter has changed so much into the grown person we know today, baby Randie was always pointing the way to the person she would become.

Baby Randie was never fooled by hand puppets! 

Baby Randie was never fooled by peek-a-boo! 

Baby Randie was never fooled by got your nose! 

I remember a few weeks after she was born, some concerned person asked how I was holding up with a newborn baby in the house. I replied, "I think I'm OK. Thankfully the baby seems to know what she's doing." 

Randie is very smart and very passionate about what is important. Word of caution: never enter into a negotiation with Randie about anything without a lawyer present. I came to that conclusion when our daughter was still a toddler. 

Of utmost importance is the family Randie has built beyond Andrea and I. Randie has an inclination towards people who are broken, young people who are not loved and respected as well as they should. Then Randie makes it a primary mission to show them that love, that respect. I admire that commitment, that compassion a great deal. 

Happy birthday to my daughter Randie. You are in some ways very different from where you started 2 decades ago. For crying out loud, your hair is green now! 

But in other ways, you are what your baby self warned us about all those years ago: strong, smart and determined. 

Randie as a baby

Randie from about 2 or 3 years old

Randie with our granddaughter Rosie