I Hope You Have One Just Like You

Have you ever heard these words uttered by a parent to their child in frustration after the child has done something less than stellar, "I hope you have one just like you?" The parent usually means it as a sort of jinx as in I hope one day you'll know just how I feel today with your own kid. Well, I don't remember if that was ever said to me by my parents. It probably was because God knows I did some majorly frustrating things when I was little, but if they did, thank the Lord it came true. In so many ways, my baby, Georgi, is just like me. We are both stubborn. We are both very independent. We both like to cook. In so many other ways she is totally her own person, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
Georgi wasn't really planned, not in the sense of exact timing. I had had one baby who had just turned 2 in September, and her father and I had decided that we would stop using birth control, and if it so happened that we got pregnant, it was meant for us to have a second child. I was playing the Ugly Duckling's Mother in a children's show the following May, and I found out I was expecting another baby. As with my first pregnancy, I didn't want to know what I was having, so the following February, in the blizzard of 1996, I traveled early one Thursday morning on February 1st to have my scheduled C-section, something my doctor and I had decided after complications with my first pregnancy. At 8:16 am, my OB announced in the surgical suite, "Indoor plumbing!," another little girl. I was very happy!
So many things have happened in the last 19 years, and I have shared stories before in this blog. My little snow angel baby is now a college girl, and I am so proud of all she is doing! I never worry about her! I totally trust her! How many moms say that about their 19 year olds? In so many ways she is all grown up, but in other ways she's still my little girl. She still calls me Mommy sometimes, and it's hard to let go of that tiny munchkin who drew on the wall with marker, but what an amazing friend I have gained! Happy Birthday, sweet girl! It's your birthday, but I'm the one who got the present.