Never mind all the post-vacation unpacking, laundry, grocery shopping, email-returns, phone calls, cleaning, and everything else. I can't wait another minute to acknowledge and celebrate that she

Any words are inadequate to the task of expressing my feelings on this milestone. I love her dearly. She is the one who has taught me the most about myself and about mothering, the daughter who suffers from an inexperienced & flawed mother who is doing everything for the first time (and flying by the seat of my pants, mostly). We do clash sometimes (as mothers and daughters do) especially as I learn to hand over more and more of the "controlling interest" in this lovely life I have nurtured and cherished and played a role in creating (but, really, I know it is her life, after all). She is a vessel of light and laughter. She has a good heart. She makes us proud.