I can’t believe my baby is SIXTEEN!!! Her 16th birthday has been bittersweet for me. I can’t help but think of my 16th birthday…I got a car, started my first job a month later, and 2 months after that I had a REAL boyfriend. Turning 16 was a HUGE milestone for me. It makes me sad that it’s not that way for my daughter. That turning 16 was just another year older for her. She can’t get a drivers license, she doesn’t have driving to look forward to, I’m not sure what kind of job she would be able to get, and there are no boys calling. It’s really hard when she says “it’s not fair I can’t do what other kids can do”. There’s not much I can say to that because I agree with her….it’s NOT fair, and that’s what I tell her…but that doesn’t help her. She’s missing out on SO much and it makes my heart ache. I want to make everything alright for her and I can’t and that is such a helpless feeling. I just tell her that she’s special and God has other plans for her, but again…that doesn’t do much good when your watching everyone around you driving to school, going out on dates, and working. She is SO sweet, caring, loving and SO SO sensitive (complete opposite of me), and she gets more insecure every day because of her disability and the limitations it puts on her. I don’t know what to do…I wish someone would tell me what to do.
Anyhow…enough of that…the one thing I could do was make her 16th birthday something to remember…and I think I achieved that. I threw her a surprise birthday party today. Her birthday was 12/30, but I waited a couple of weeks before I had it so she would be surprised….and she definately was. I think she was pretty happy with it…if she wasn’t…she fooled me. Here’s the pictures from it:
