January 12, 2023 Happy Birthday

To My Daughter;

Seventeen years.

Seventeen years are gone in an instant. They have been wonderful years. You have changed so much and yet remain my little girl. You will always be my little girl even when you are grown up and left the nest.

January 12, 2023, you turned seventeen years old. Holy wow, what a beautiful, strange trip it’s been.

And it has only just begun. 

I look forward to many more birthdays and graduations, more celebrations. But for now, I want to freeze time. You only have one more year. One more year before you will be old enough to vote, old enough to be considered a woman. You are already blooming into an amazing young woman right before my eyes. 

And I want to cherish every moment.

But life keeps rolling on. You keep growing up and becoming more and better every day. No one is ever perfect but in the eyes of a father, you come pretty darn close. Even when you frustrate me, I still feel that way inside. 

And it’s all happening so fast. 

I remember days when my father told me that life goes faster and faster every year. How could I have known how right he was? How can you know how fast it is going for me? It’s the part of life that we can never stop – time.

It just keeps passing us by.

I will do all I can to make the moments count. And sometimes in today’s world that is the hardest part. Making the moments count. I’m sure we all wish we could have moments in time back. Things we do or say that we would change.

But that is not how time works.

I’m excited for the next month, the next season, and the next year with you as my child. Because time is precious. And, my daughter, so are you. Seventeen years, it has been a very wonderful ride.

I can’t wait to see my little girl bloom into the woman you will become.