From the earliest days of her life, I’d sing the song “You Are My Sunshine” to her–not only because it was one of the few songs I actually could remember the words to, but also because she truly “made me happy, when skies were grey.”

When Ariana was not yet two, I cried, “please don’t take my sunshine away” as the nightmare of divorce and all its messiness became an unavoidable reality. Thankfully, the heavens were watching, as they always do, and everything eventually worked out.  But every time I think about that stanza of the song, I still shudder.

I am grateful beyond words for the sunshine that Ariana brings to my life.  She is mature beyond her years, she is stalwart and strong in her beliefs, and she has the kindest heart of anyone I’ve ever known.  Ever.  She has been on the “A” Honor Roll for 6 consecutive semesters.  She scored a perfect “1+” at two of her last three piano festivals and earned a blue ribbon in her first try on the Texas State Piano Theory test. She is trying to teach me how to “bite my tongue” when I get upset.

Ariana, even though there may be an imbalance of blog entries about the escapades of your younger siblings (as you pointed out the other day), “you’ll never know, dear, how much I love you” . . . . until you have children of your own. (And don’t even THINK about doing crazy things just to get more blog time!) 🙂