Skip to main content

Happy Birthday, Johannah!

This is not possible.  There is no way this is happening.

Johannah is now SEVENTEEN years old!

I know it sounds cliche, but c'mon:  where has the time gone?  Just look at this cutie!




One of the most memorable trips that John and I ever took was when we were dirt poor, and John was in residency.  We drove down to Florida from Ohio, loaded with Legos, books and Beanie Babies (this was before video players in cars), and toured around Florida.  Naples had a very nice beach, although it was rather cold.

Look at my beautiful baby!  She had the curliest blonde hair, and the cutest want-to-squeeze-the-heck-out-of-them cheeks.  And her eyes?  Well, they haven't changed through the years.  You can lose yourself in Hannie's baby blue eyes.

I can hardly believe that she's all grown up now.  She's a senior in high school, she's driving and dating, and she's just a really amazing person.  Hannah reeks of confidence and self-esteem, and very little of anything scares her.  She's smart, driven and goal-oriented.  She does things that she doesn't necessarily want to do (training for half marathons), and she has a tender heart for her feline friends.  She's drop-dead gorgeous, and because of all of this, she can be rather intimidating (this isn't a problem for John and me, seeing as she scares away boys quite easily).  Speaking of boys, she doesn't settle.  She gives a boy a chance, but if they don't live up to the example her father and her older brothers have set, she very gently lets the boy down and moves on.

So, for her birthday, Johannah wanted a party, but seeing as I've done more socializing in the last three months than I regularly do in a year, I wasn't too keen on the idea.  So, Hannah threw her own party, and I couldn't have been more proud.  I know it sounds sexist, but these are the skills that women need--she will be planning activities and throwing parties for the rest of her life.  Again, she absolutely amazed me.  Dinner around the fire pit outside with games too.  The kids had a great time, and me?  I was inside, making chicken divan and chocolate cake for the family party the next day.  Johannah didn't need me for one minute, and I have no doubt that I couldn't have thrown as fun of a party as she did.



It's surreal to think that by the time she has another birthday (same time, next year), she'll already be in college, moving on with the next phase of her life.  Believe me, John and I wish we could reverse time and go back to when she was little, but alas, she's ready to grow up.

We love you, Hannie!


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

SURPRISE!!

When the pizza guy came to the door last night, here's what John saw: It took a few seconds for John to process who the pizza delivery man was, but when he did, he was incredibly happy (and couldn't stop saying "heeeeyyyyy....".  It was Jared Moran, John's best friend. And me, I just knelt down, right then and there, and began repenting of all the lies that I have told over the last four months, hiding this most amazing surprise :-)  I told Sarah the other day that I was glad to see the light at the end of the falsehood tunnel, because if I kept this up much longer, I was destined to end up in liars' hell... Jared ran the Air Force marathon with John last year.  It was his first marathon, and from what he told us, his last.  However, he called in June and said he was coming again, but I was supposed to keep it a surprise from John.  I'm not sure what changed his mind, but we sure are glad he did.  John hates runnings marathons alone, and ther...

Bragging Time

Since I know my beautiful daughter won't brag about herself, allow me to! The orchestra program at our local high school is pathetic.  The band?  Award winning.  The choirs?  Award winning.  The orchestra?  They take fifth out of five orchestras.....thanks for playing! After Johannah made it into the top orchestra this summer at Interlochen, she knew that there was no going back.  No going back to rehearsals that are all talking, and no rehearsing.  Performances that are embarrassing.  So, she checked into our local professional orchestra, the Nittany Valley Symphony. As luck would have it, they were holding open auditions for only four instruments, viola being one of them. Let me reiterate.  This is a professional orchestra, made up of adult performers, many of whom hold advance degrees in music. While the website said the auditions weren't until the middle of September, when Johannah called, she discovered that they were b...

The FIRST of the Best Days of My Life

I'm always amazed when people can answer the question, "What was the best day of your life?"  For me, I've never had a specific answer.  The typical response of "my wedding day" doesn't work for me, because in all honesty, our wedding day was pretty sad with no family in attendance.  The second most popular answer of "the day my child was born" only conjures up feelings of pain, misery and exhaustion for me.  Really, up to this point, the best day of my life is anytime my family is together, and we are laughing, and talking, and ... being together.  I guess if I could string all of those moments into one solitary day, that would be the best day of my life. Everything changed though on Tuesday, October 27, 2015.  In fact, I feel quite relieved now, knowing that I can answer the proverbial question successfully and succinctly, for on that day, Anneliese Margaret Kennedy joined our family, and there has never been a better day in my life. Po...