Not exactly? Not remotely!
My daughter, Angelica, has a birthday on Friday.
She will turn 19.
My brain can't seem to wrap itself around this idea. But one of the things she asked for was that I drive down to the Smithsonian Zoo with her to spend an afternoon sketching the animals. This, at least, was an idea my brain could figure out. In fact it was the perfect piece of continuity to celebrate my curious, fiercely scientific first daughter. She has been, and continues to be, perhaps the most consistently single-minded person I have ever known. Her love for the natural world is both pragmatic and deeply passionate. She's brilliant. She's frustrating. She is, simply, a wonder.
Our day began with a morning run to the post office before we headed out toward DC. There was a peeping from behind the counter and my post office friend explained to me that there was a box of chicks that had arrived the day before and had not been picked up. Angelica was quick to offer to claim the (possibly) homeless chicks. We didn't, but it reminded me of when she was just two years old and we brought home a batch of little peeps for the first time. She kept squatting down to kiss them. That is one of those rare moments that etches itself onto the firmware of the brain. I look at that moment and think "that is where it started."
And I can't wait to see where it goes from here.
