Sixteen {16}

 This week my little girl turned 16. Sixteen! Such an age filled with possibilities. I love this picture below, same spot 11 years apart. She makes my heart leap with joy now, just like she did then. She is more than I ever could have imagined all those years ago when I so desperately wanted a little girl.





Her day was filled with friends and family and good food. And presents, of course. One of her best friends shares her birthday, so we had to get our annual photos of these two precious girls, who have been inseparable since they were 4 and 5. (Bess is one year older.)

My brother and my adorable nephew were in town and had birthday dinner with us and my parents.

No, we did not get her a car—but we have started looking on Craig's List for possibilities!

Because the day after her birthday, she got her driver's license!

Sigh. I love her so much. She amazes me constantly with her kindness, compassion, creativity, sheer beauty, and hilarious sense of humor. We get each other. I think about how distant I was from my mother when I was 16, and I am so very thankful that my daughter is not the girl that I was, in so many ways. I wish I could have been more like her.

See how kind and compassionate she is?

Sweet 16, when the world is fresh and you are filled with expectation, when anything might happen at any time. When song lyrics cut to your heart and the smell of summer rests on your skin, when the thought of autumn makes your heart flutter and you want to weep—and you have no idea why or what or who or when, only that you are always on the cusp of something.

Linked to Saturday Snapshot