Emma’s Golden Birthday

Today is April 19th and Emma is 19.  It’s her golden birthday.

And she is hundreds of miles away growing and learning.

But I miss her to pieces

I miss her world class hugs for no good reason.

I miss her making up songs in the car between discussions

of why people need to learn math and our never ending

appreciation of the superhumanity of Hugh Jackman.

I miss listening to teen-age tragedy songs of the 50’s

especially those girl group geniuses, The Shangrilas.

I miss watching Madmen together.  (And she always

indulges me in my retelling of how I worked in a place,

as a fifteen year old office boy, just like the one on the

show.)

I miss her sense of humor.  So, dry you could make an

award winning martini with it.

I miss bonding over babies that we see on the street

and Starbucks.

I miss her harmonizing with anyone who happens

to be in the car at the moment.

I miss her expertise at mimickery.  (In the

first few weeks of kindergarten she could

sound like any kid in her class.  Though, she

never did it outside the house.  It might hurt

someone’s feelings.)

I miss walking by the kitchen table as she

did her whimsical drawings of Aces as the

soft melody of Law and Order: SVU played

in the background.

I even miss her being 18 and that was just

yesterday.

Happy golden birthday from your Pop,

Emma.  If today is just 1/100th as amazing

as you are it’s going to be one swell day.