Diana

This woman is a fierce red-head.  She is a force to be reckoned with.  She does not suffer fools gladly.  She is no respecter of status.  You will earn her respect or you will not be given more than what is dictated out of decency by being one of the billions who walks this earth.  Earn her disdain and you will know exactly what she thinks of you and why.

Her ferocity is not merely for the sake of being contrarian...any more.  She will unleash her wrath on oppressors of the weak or defenseless.  She is a defender of of those misunderstood by the masses.  I've seen her get in the face of bigger kids to defend a friend who was developmentally challenged.  I've been under her protection. After I demolished my arm and was freshly un-casted she hovered protectively on my left side so people in a crowd wouldn't accidentally bump me and she barked at anyone who came too close.  I've been told how she has let her supervisors where she works know she will not participate in breaking the spirits of the kids in the school.

With such an iron will and a willingness to express her unvarnished opinions she has not always been easy to parent but she has always amazed me.  In those awkward early adolescent years she seemed so comfortable in her own skin, in ways I never could have dreamed of being when I was the same age. 

She has struggled some since leaving home and wound up leaving school.  I had hoped a dose of the "real world" might convince her to go back to college but it has not.  Instead she has chosen to live on her own and has found her own way to finance her life.  She contentedly keeps things simple so she can afford to be on her own, forgoing certain "necessities" most folks her age would find unthinkable to do without.

She's done a lot of growing in the last year or so.  She has softened a bit.  She asks for advice because she wants to hear it.  Sometimes she even takes it.  When she doesn't and I have raised concerns she has been able to tell me (respectfully rather than defiantly) , "It may be a mistake, but it's MY mistake and if there are consequences they will be MINE too."  She's still forging her own way with confidence. 

Twenty-two years ago she screamed into the world letting us know she intended to make her mark.  She's showing she wants it to be a good one.  May it be indelible.  Happy birthday to my amazing daughter!