My Daughter

May, 10, 2025

I remember it like it was yesterday. It was a not-so-cold day in December and I got to the hospital just about an hour before she was born. It was such an humbling experience to see her birthmother go through the anguish of childbirth knowing that someone else would get the “prize.” Why my family — Bill and me and two rough-and-tumble boys?

When I saw that beautiful baby girl, though, I was immediately smitten. I did not expect the flush of protection I instantly felt for her. And as I cuddled her in my room later that evening, I knew God had given us a gift too precious for words. He had completed our family. And her daddy was in for it because she was gorgeous!

Her growing up years were wonderful. She was sweet and kind (her brothers might challenge that), and she was smart and athletic. We did dance, gymnastics, soccer, softball, swim team, cheer team and track before it was all said and done. She decided to go into nursing and did so with rabid determination.

I knew her husband before she did. We were work acquaintances in the surgery suite at UK. She was a little concerned about accepting his invitation for a date until I encouraged her to give him a chance. He turned out to be so much more than I had been asking God for on her behalf. He enveloped her with his affection and protection and it made me proud. 

Now that they are married and have two sweet younguns of their own, I feel something different about her than I had in the previous two decades. Respect. Oh, I had appreciated her determination in sports and in school and her work ethic at UK. But this is different. She is raising these children with a kindness and grace that can only come from her very soul. Her patience is amazing. Her attention to detail and her insistence on what is right is unmatched. (Her brothers would say that she has always fancied herself to be “right” no matter what anyone else had to say. But that’s another story!)

Sunday is Mother’s Day. This will mark her fourth. I respect her more today than ever before. She is an amazing woman, wife and mother and I still can’t believe she is ours. Happy Mother’s Day, sweet girl. I love you.