Mila is SIX

"What one loves in childhood stays in the heart forever"

-Mary Jo Putney

One of my earliest memories of you is on the night you were born.  You arrived just a little after 5:00 after the smoothest pregnancy and an equally smooth birth.  You were tiny, 6 lbs. 13 oz., and every feature of your reminded me of a baby doll.  Our family filed in to meet you, we drank pink champagne, and I'm not sure I ever felt so happy.  

And then all of our family left and I took a quick bath.  I washed my hair, changed out of that hospital gown, and started to adjust to my new life of you outside my belly.  And when I stepped out of that bathroom, there you were in Beau's arms, swaddled up tight in a pink blanket, rocking softly to a song by Avett Brothers called Souls Like the Wheels.  I remember feeling so much joy I thought it might burst through my skin.  One little girl who made us feel so much love we couldn't even comprehend it.  

"One little girl

Bring me life from where I thought it was dark

Be the spark that has a chance to light the candle

Love that I can handle

Let me go, let me go, let me go, let me go."

Little did I know in that moment that you and your daddy would listen to that song, and the entire album, The Second Gleam, for a good portion of your baby life.  He'd play it for you while he'd rock you in the middle of the night when you were just days old and life (and our nights) felt so fragile and unpredictable.  He'd lay on the floor next to your crib and play it during your toddler years when you stood on your tippy toes over your railing to make sure he was still there so you could drive us wild and do anything but go to sleep.  He'd play it in the car on the way home from somewhere, when we just wanted you to nap so the two of us could talk.  And you'd almost always be sound asleep by the time Murdered in the City was through.  

When I don't have a lot of words to put to all the things I'm feeling, music will usually do the trick.  And today, on your birthday, when I think back on your six precious years of life, there is a soundtrack playing in the background.  It starts with Daddy playing you Souls Like the Wheels the night you were born, followed by a lot of Come Thou Fount from your mom.  From your earliest ability to string words together into phrases, you'd request "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" and I'd usually sing, and you'd usually fall asleep.  

Sweet girl, you are so many songs to us.  You are The White Stripes We're Going to Be Friends with Daddy at the guitar, making his day every time you ask to sing with him.  You are Home or Rivers and Roads with me on the way to school, or Seven Nation Army or Mamas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys with Daddy.  You are My Lighthouse for an after school worship anthem, or Party in the USA for a Saturday morning dance party.  You are the Fuller House theme song on loop these days, and my sweet little Honeybee when we're out on another adventure together.    

Like a really great playlist - filled with love songs that make you cry, party songs that make you dance, and soul-filled songs that make you feel alive, you have filled our lives with song since the day you were born.  We love you for your quick wit and silliness, your snuggles and smooches right on the lips, your long drawn-out goodbyes and kissing hands in the drop off lane at school, your obsession with Kimmy Gibbler, your relentless pursuit of not wearing a coat, your creative spirit and endless reams of paper creations, your amazing dance moves, your kind heart, and your abundance of joy.  I can't wait to see the song and dance you add to our lives for the next six years and am expectant it will be filled with sweet tunes that are confidently, unapologetically YOU. 

Happy S I X, Mila girl.  We sure love you.