She's twenty.
I know by the morning light that my alarm didn’t go off.
A second adrenaline surge hits my brain when through the fog I realize it is my daughter’s 20th birthday, and nothing is ready. The foot massager isn’t wrapped, my card is AWOL, and Molly, who works the night shift, will be home any moment.
The wrapping paper barely makes it to the table before Molly limps in the door.
“I’m so grumpy and tired,” she groans.
I announce her second gift: Permission to be grumpy on her birthday. She giggles.
“What can I eat?” A shower of blueberries falls out as she opens the fridge, rolling around in the dog hair on the floor, and our three Labradors rush in for the prize. Stopping three charging dogs involves a little yelling, but a dogfight broke out anyway, and blueberries were trampled.
I try desperately to create a spa experience out of the chaos with a candle, strawberries, jalapeno poppers and music, but the overachieving foot massager makes her yell out in pain: “Ow! Ow! Let go! Let go!”
The massager growls loudly intermittently, drowning out the relaxing spa music. I am annoyed. Why is that cord so short? The dogs mill about Molly in joyful adoration.
“Off! Off!” I yell, protecting the world’s shortest cord. “Get away!” Molly’s grumpy voice chimes in as she bats away her adoring fans. “Laaaaaaaah!” floats the glorious spa music. “GRRRRRrrrrrrr” groans the foot massager.
“Mom, I’m not into this tea,” mutters the birthday girl. Despite the mayhem, I sense her tone is softer. I rush in to remove the tea, tripping over the cord and ending the massage abruptly. I grovel indelicately on my knees; where is the little hole where this thingy goes? It fires back up: “GRRRRrrrrrrr….”
While Molly flips through her news feed, I sip my coffee and my brain begins to clear. The sun stops shining in my eyeballs and the massager at last grows blissfully silent when the timer expires. The music soothes my ruffled spirit. I breathe deeply, drinking in the peace, and glance around. Somehow peace emerged from our chaos. Molly lies asleep on her dog.
Happy birthday, Love! In all of our crazy days, you are my Best Thing.
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