Happy Birthday, Brynne!

18 Years ago tonight I was getting ready to
head off to the hospital to deliver our first baby.

I remember the December day Gregg came home from
his trip and I could hardly contain my excitement.
I was pregnant and with that announcement he swirled
me around the kitchen.
(Something he dare not do today...ha...)

We both hoped for a girl and were
deliriously happy to have that hope come alive in
Brynne Olivia Mattson.
6 lbs and 2 oz of precious

It was 102 degrees that day and crude oil was
$25 a barrel. Tears were streaming down
my face immediately after she was born and I
remember the anesthesiologist leaning over me
with great concern. It was not pain, but raw joy.

For 22 months she was our solo delight and
shortly after that she became big sister to
Lacey and later Jacob.

Since then Brynne has moved from
Barney...to Project Runway

from Sesame Street Live...to the high school stage

from endless, unintelligible babbling in English...
to heartfelt, passionate Spanish...

from matching sister outfits...to her own sense of style

from daily chapel at school...to her own personal relationship with Jesus

from a notable gift of writing...to acing the AP English exam

from pre-school teachers who weep as she moves up...
to teachers who respect her for her contributions

from a piano student...to a piano teacher

from someone who can't make her bed...
to someone who doesn't make her bed...

to someone who fluidly moved from elementary...
to middle...to high school...
to someone who anticipates a smooth move to a Texas University

From someone that brought her parents much delight...
to someone who continues to do so...

Year 18 brings us to her senior year.
A year full of special moments and lasts of sorts...
for this time next year she will be on her own at college.
While we will have a certain degree of influence
the majority of our parental work will be behind us.
Like every parent before us we have gotten some of it
terrifically right and some of it terribly wrong.
At some point in the near future we will send her off to watch the
path she will walk into adulthood and with full
confidence that we will be proud and amazed at
who she is, what she accomplishes and where she goes.

Nosotros le adoramos tan grande come el cielo.

Mom and Dad