Monday 2 May 2016

Memorandum Monday

I hope you'll forgive me today if the Memorandum I make this Monday meanders on a course all its own. We've been celebrating a birthday here: the kind which brings with it firsts and lasts for everyone concerned. the kind I feel I'd like to mark with a note.



When I began to write about her here, on my blog, she became known as The Small One; and certainly she was small then, smaller than her older, taller brother. She was small, too, when she was born, as is the way in our family. Just as she arrived, the midwife turned to her Dad and said..and you have a ..?

..girl? he asked, hardly believing, and he lifted her, and held onto her, and several years later Granny said What will he do when that child has to go to school?  For she rode in his arms like a tiny queen, with one hand on his shoulder, the other raised in a miniature wave, all day if she could.

But go to school she did and her first report told us what we already knew: everyone is happy to be her friend. She is so lovely to look at, with a luminous beauty which seems to grow as she has grown; but yet she takes no account of it. She has no time for show, for vanity, for surface: whatever is in the inside is what she considers, and for this, her friends love her. They tell me she's an excellent listener, loyal, patient, thoughtful and, above all else, kind; and I agree. She is all of these things, but much more. She has a wickedly dry sense of humour, perfect timing, quick as a whip delivery. She can fix things, set them right, take them apart and put them together again; and, if she follows the career she has chosen for herself, I suspect she'll make an excellent job of doing the same with people. 

She reminds me of her Great Grandpa, for he too was a mender with a fine musical ear. He would have called her a good ole blow, I think, and laughed, and urged her  to play on: the flute, the piccolo, recorder, tin whistle, fife. She knows them all and performs with them often; though I was never as moved to see her on stage as I was the night she sang under the spotlight, just a little girl in a school gingham frock, with two friends, and the audience in the palm of their hands. She was brave that night. That's what she does. She does brave in a way I admire immensely. When she was little, we said she was lucky. But now we know how she conjures that luck: with determination, with grit. If she falls down, she gets back up; and it has been a joy to offer a hand here and there over the last eighteen years. 

I know that many of you have watched her grow over the last seven years, and I hope you'll join me in wishing her a very Happy Birthday.

We'll have eaten the cake and cleared up the wrapping paper by this time next week and normal service will be resumed, so don't forget...make a memorandum on Monday.

Last week Becky, Melissa, Deb, Helena, Eileen, Mitra, Maggie, Susanne, Karen, Ladkyis, Barbara and Mary-Lou shared what was new: how about you?

30 comments:

Ruth said...

Oh my gosh! This is such a beautiful post that it makes me want to cry ... in a good way. Happy, happy birthday to the delightful TNSSO ... she is all those things you mentioned and more. The Boy Child and I are thrilled that we know her IRL.

Maggie said...

Your post brought a tear to my eye. In fact I was so touched I choked on my cornflakes. Sian your description of your beautiful daughter shows the love and pride of a mum who knows she has done a good job. I wish all the happiness for her future and success in her future career and of course a Happy Birthday. My girl has hers right in the middle of her exams.

helena said...

Many Happy Birthday wishes and what a milestone for you all. Beautiful words from a Mum to a daughter. Have a great week

debs14 said...

Oh, I feel quite emotional reading this! Happy birthday to TNSSO, I hope she has a wonderful day and a bright shiny future. She sounds as if she has a lovely nature and this can only be put down to the excellent example her family have shown her and the way that her strengths have been nurtured to make her the young lady she is today.
You must be SO proud of her. Good luck to her in this summer's exams, the next chapter is ready to be written x

Eileen T said...

She's beautiful and I wish her a very Happy Birthday. Your love for her shines out of this post.

Ali said...

Another truly lovely post - tears in my eyes again!!! Your daughter is beautiful outside and from what I've read inside as well a credit to her parents! Hope she has a fabulous birthday xxx

Ladkyis said...

I'll just echo what everyone has said and add my own birthday greetings to a beautiful TNSSO. Oh, I'll also add a couple of big cwtches for her parents for giving the world such a lovely young lady.

My favourite son in law just said "I bet her Dad's got a big gun to keep all the scroats away" This is because he keeps muttering about having to get a big gun because of Miss Boo

pmk said...

Wishing TNSSO a very happy 18th birthday! You've written a beautiful post for a beautiful girl!

Jimjams said...

Wishing TNSSO a very happy birthday - I think she's a chip off the old block in more ways than one!

Jane said...

she is beautiful, you must be so proud, happy birthday xx

Susanne said...

What a lovely post - I dare say she gets a few of those sterling qualities from her mom. Happy birthday to your beautiful, inside and out, daughter.

Alison said...

Happy Birthday to your lovely girl!.....a beautiful post full of love and pride...just as it should be! Xx

Karen said...

What a fabulous post! I hope she prints it out and takes it with her wherever she goes, although I'm sure, in her heart, she knows just exactly how you feel. But to read it is another way of knowing." Luminous beauty" is the perfect description; that photo is absolutely stunning! Many happy returns for her birthday and a wonderful year ahead!

Julie Kirk said...

What a gift: your words to her, her to her friends, her spirit to your family, to her Dad [my Dad always tells the story that when my sister was born the nurse told him he had a daughter and he asked 'But is it a girl?' he needed to double check - it's all he ever wanted!] and you to her - her talents and traits have been polished to a fine shine by your loving hand.

Happy birthday!!

alexandra s.m. said...

I have a hard time seeing the keypad now Sian so I'll make it brief...
Your post is both beautiful and very moving indeed.
I wish your beautiful daughter the very BEST life has to offer.
and Bravo to you!

Joyeux Anniversaire!

Patio Postcards said...

Wishing your daughter a most happy & wonderful birthday. This is such a beautiful tribute to your daughter.

Lizzy Hill said...

What a lovely piece of writing to celebrate your girl! And a gorgeous photo to boot! Here's to big girls - may they always have small girls lurking somewhere inside :):)

smcl said...

Another wiping her eyes here!
God Bless your small one. She is truly beautiful, inside and out!
Happy Birthday & a wonderful year to you!

alexa@clara.co.uk said...

How very lovely - you Sian, your writing, and your delightful daughter :). I hope she will get to read these words, for your love and pride shine through, and she cannot fail to feel deeply loved and connected to you, the rest of her immediate family, and the generations before her. Please send her my warmest good wishes for her birthday, and for great success in the months to come. She is truly beautiful ...

Jo said...

Such a beautiful post for such a beautiful person, I hope she has an amazing birthday x

Mitralee said...

Such a delightful post and I'm sad to be so far away and not knowing such a fine young beautiful lady! Please tell her happy happy for me!!

Linda Batson said...

Congratulations to to you both, and may her birthday be everything both of you wish for it to be. You have raised a wonderful young lady. I wish her much happiness and success as she embarks on the newest phase of her life.

Unknown said...

Aww Happy Birthday to your daughter, she sounds wonderful and headed for a happy and contented life. Congratulations to you :-)

Nathalie said...

Wishing your daughter a very happy 18th birthday! Your post was very touching and you are both lucky to have each other.

Unknown said...

Oh, Sian. Your words. I have tears running down my face. Such beauty expressed there. Just wonderful.

Miriam said...

Oh! Sian what a truly beautiful post for an equally beautiful daughter. She has grown into a fine young woman but then why wouldn't she with you for her mother. Happy Happy birthday... to you both.

Jennifer Shaw said...

A wonderful post. Happy birthday to your beautiful daughter. :)

Missus Wookie said...

Happy Birthday to TSO :) What a lovely post for a lovely young woman.

Melissa said...

She is so lovely!!

Julia said...

Beautiful photo, beautiful words. Belated happy birthday wishes x

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