Awakening

This has been a big year for all members of my family

but the biggest changes have to be in my daughter Kate.

This year was the start of high school.

A brand new school, new friends to meet and make,

new challenges and routines to face and learn.

During this year, I had the profound privilege and pleasure

to watch my daughter try a sport - volleyball - for the first time.

Determination and a positive attitude won her a spot on the JV team,

but ultimately those two attributes could only take her so far.

I have watched her focus and practice and learn

and her progress has been unmistakeable.

She will be quite a contender on the JV team next year.

I have watched her handle her classes with aplomb.

At this point, she has surpassed my math skills

(and the highest math level I reached in college, I might add,

once she takes Geometry next year)

and nearly reached my highest level in Science as well.

(How in the world did I even GET into college??)

Over the course of the past eight months I have also watched her

audition for and make Chamber Choir,

join the softball team and learn the sport

(tonight she made an out, a hit and scored a run!)

get a part in the Sound of Music and perform in the play,

and go on a week long mission trip to Guatemala over Spring Break.

My child astounds me.

She is more self assured and kind than I ever was.

She is a person who knows herself and is very perceptive and loving.

I am so very lucky I have her as my daughter.