Happy Birthday, Brooke

Tuesday, Jan. 21, marked the 25th birthday of my daughter, Brooke…my “baby.”
I was 25 years old when Brooke was born. My second child. We are not as “scared” with the second baby as we are with the first. We know they won’t break and we know how to handle fevers and sickness better, without running to the doctor for every little whim.
The second child seems to grow up “tougher” than the first; for they have to learn to fight back to the older sibling’s bullying and they seem to have the need to “keep up.”
Brooke was always a tom-boy at heart. She dressed prissy and like a girl but she loved the farm life and outdoors like a boy. She was the one to pick up the frogs and lizards, in the house, to throw out for me. She was the one to get the snakes out the pool and to hook up all the trailers and haul equipment around for me. She loved (still loves) cows and horses and had (still has) a field full of them to take care of.
Her love for life, for animals, and for other people has been evident from her extreme youth, to teenage years and now into adulthood. She has chosen the career path of a law enforcement officer, to protect and serve those that she doesn’t even know.
I sometimes watch Brooke now and truly cannot believe that it has been 25 years. It seems like just yesterday...learning to walk, learning to talk, learning to read, learning the multiplication tables, learning to write in cursive, being crowned May Queen, starting high school, graduating high school, graduating college, getting married…oh my, the years have flown by!
I could not be prouder of the lady that Brooke has become. Her moral values, her Christian standards, her work ethics and her dedication to her family and friends are all so astounding. She is such a tremendous, outstanding woman now, that sometimes I cannot believe she is “mine.”
There is no greater gift than that of a child; and there is no greater love than that of a mother!
Happy Birthday, Brooke! I love you and am so very proud of you!
I’m so glad that God gave you to me – 25 years ago!!!