happy birthday, eldest child

vesta is eleven today! she is a wonderful child, mostly effortless to raise and a pleasure to know and love. she was born at home after a full twenty four hours of labor. present at her birth were: lorin and myself, dad, jan, dawn, clarebeth the midwife and her wonderful assistant kimberly stonebreaker. there was much walking on the day leading up to her birth and it was a beautiful april day...it had been a warm and early spring, so many flowers were in bloom and i especially remember the lilacs. i am surprised every year when i go out in the world to find myself some lilac blooms for her birthday bouquet to find that they often are not out yet. after the many, many painful and somewhat frightening hours of labor it suddenly (or so it seemed) was time to push! 30 minutes of pushing later and she emerged into the world, pure and innocent--all the pain and effort of her birth instantly forgotten and forgiven. she was perfect and wonderful. she still is.

we spent the morning baking pound cake for her birthday dinner tonight (my easy and kind daughter chose "awesome sandwiches" for her birthday meal!)...vesta, hazel, jubal and i all working together to mix and blend and pour and bake. it was lovely and fun.

vesta is: a talented artist, surprisingly funny, generous, kind, patient, helpful, amusing, free-spirited, too hard on herself, beautiful, sweet, loving, smart, a pleasure.

happy birthday, vesta bean! i love you.

i am grateful for: vesta, vesta, vesta, vesta, vesta.