I'll love you more than anybody can

"I'll walk in the rain by your side
I'll cling to the warmth of your tiny hand
I'll do anything to keep you satisfied
I'll love you more than anybody can"


This Blog is dedicated to my daughter Jessica who will be 25 on November 5th. All three of my children have November birthdays. I know this sounds great now that they are grown, but imagine having three large birthday parties in one month, followed by Thanksgiving within days.(very expensive and not always so much fun hosting "kid parties") Jessica was born on the day after election day after 75 hours of long, grueling labor (I am exaggerating a bit, but it felt like 75 hours of labor). She was the best baby you can ever imagine: never cried (except when I was out of the room) slept through the night from day one and always laughed and danced. Some things never change, especially the dancing part. I remember the first time Jessica started dancing, she was four months old, holding on to the side of her crib and jumping and down to the music with a big smile on her face. Jessica was always a happy and loveable child and everybody loved her positive attitude. She is a fabulous athlete and excelled in tennis, cheerleading and soft ball. I think what made her such a good athlete was not so much her ability at sports, but the fact that nothing rattled her or made her lose her focus. Jess always showed such great sportsmanship and always treated her opponents, as well as her coaches,  with respect . Jessica is also very talented in dancing, singing and playing instruments. I like to think that she inherited her athletic and musical talent from me ( I can't sing or dance but I can hit a mean softball -all the way to the outfield-LOL)- but I will assume that it was all the lessons she took in tennis, music, singing, dancing, golf, swimming, etc, etc.

What amazes me about Jessica is her caring manner toward other people, especially those who were less fortunate than her. Jessica was never one of those teenagers that did not want their mom talking to them in public or coming up to the school, quite the opposite. She would run up to me in the halls and hug me and include me in with her friends at her sleep overs and school events. She never treated me like an embarrassment and invited me to come up to the school cafeteria to have lunch with her and her friends. Maybe Jessica's great value system and caring ways came from having a disabled sibling, Maybe it is just her nature, but she always treated everybody with respect. In high school, Jessica and her friend Jamie gathered up all the kids who had nobody to eat with in the cafeteria and made a big table for all the loners. She once got in trouble in Middle School being late to class because somebody opened the back of a disabled child's book bag and his stuff fell all over the halls. Jessica was late to class because she helped him pick up his stuff- the teacher still gave her a detention, although she tried to explain the situation. Recently when my son was in the hospital for many weeks, it was Jessica who sat by my side for hours and hours at a time, running to the hospital in the middle of the night when I called her crying. Jessica with her calm demeanor, made me feel better and not so scared all the time.

       It was the best of times, it was the worst of times... That is what being a        parent is all about. I think that raising my three children was by far the hardest job I have ever done in my entire life and even though they are grown, I still worry about my children every day. All I ever wanted was to be a mother, but I have to admit that the day to day job of caring for babies was a lot of work. Having a daughter like Jessica makes my job a lot easier since she is such a great person. I often hear people brag about their children, "my son's a doctor, a lawyer, etc"., but I realize that what your child does for a living is not what matters. I feel that what is most important is raising a child to be caring, loving, honorable, gracious,courteous,dependable. These are the qualities that really count in the big picture of life. For this reason, I feel that I have accomplished so much with my life, raising my three wonderful children and seeing them become adults. Most of all, I am so thankful to have Jessica for my daughter and more importantly for my friend. I love you Jess- Happy 25th Birthday!

Click here: "For Baby" W/ Lyrics - John Denver - YouTube