Meera’s 5th Birthday (6 of 8)

That night we drank lots of chocolate milk (some of us) and lots of gin and tonic (others of us), and we grilled and ate outside (one of Meera’s favorite things to do). Meera played for a long stretch with her favorite present from the birthday party — a hobby horse from our good friend and Head Gryphon from this past year at Lehigh, Sarah.

The next day was May 28th, Meera’s actual birthday. It was a very low-key and dreary day at home (while her brothers went to school). Just perfect for unwinding from such a big day. Meera spent most of that day playing with her favorite present from her actual birthday — a Barbie RV (complete with hot tub, flat screen tv, and full kitchen!?!) from MorMor and MorFar (note: for the record — they would NEVER have given that to me when I was a child! Nor, would I have ever wanted it.).

It is something I’ve been thinking about a lot — the way my girl is just like her mama — a walking contradiction in pretty much every way. Example: her favorite gifts were a simple, wooden, old-fashioned hobby horse… and an elaborate, plastic, new-fangled Barbie RV. Example 2: on her birthday MorFar said he wanted to take her out for lunch, he asked her what her favorite lunch place is, she said “McDonalds!” (I was shocked!), that is pure Meera — she’s grown up a gourmand, a foodie-gourmet, who’s been eating in fine restaurants since she was born… and who also loves McDonalds.

She’s pretty and strong. She’s sweet and willful. She’s baby sister and boss. She loves mud and pedicures, fairies and barbies, hobby horses and plastic RVs, sushi and McDonalds. She’s complex, hard to define, impossible to categorize, inherently contradictory. She refutes the traditional boxes and labels.

Meera will struggle — she’ll get backlash from the confusion caused when confronted with someone who defies expectations and categorizations. It is hard to wrap our minds around the reality that sometimes — when given a chance — people will become what nobody could have predicted. They’ll become very attentive and hands-on mothers with very self-motivated and ambitious careers. They’ll become professors who create fairy forests. They’ll become girls who are strong and smart and who love pink and frill. They’ll make us question our pre-conceived notions. They’ll choose lives that don’t line up with our expectations or predictions. It is not going to be easy for Meera (believe it. I know it.). But she’s guaranteed (at a minimum) to have a very full life if she stays true to herself. And that’s what we’re hoping for. We’re hoping to encourage her to be whole, and fully her.

We are so excited to see what the future holds. If the past five years are any indication, it is going to be awesome.

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P.S. Meera’s end-of-the-bed present (our one birthday present for her) this year was a photo book of her first five years. I loved making this book and was so, so, so impressed with every aspect of the site/company I used to make it. I can highly recommend Blurb for photo-book-publishing.