A Quarter of a Century…sounds like a long time, doesn’t it? In a way it is. It’s time enough to go from a tiny baby with little curls to a young professional woman with beautiful, long brunette hair. It’s enough time to learn to walk and talk and to go to school. Time to learn to love. To build friendships, play with Barbies and My Little Ponies. Time to learn to swim and to sing.
To be your brother’s best friend, playing whatever he wanted to play whenever he wanted to play it. To learn about God and then to learn to know God. Time enough to learn to play the flute and then learn to play from the heart. To learn to argue and to make up. To learn to say I am sorry. To accept a compliment and to listen to advice. It is time enough to move away from home. To go to college, get a career and make a home of your own. Twenty-five years is long enough to forgive your parent’s mistakes and begin a different kind of relationship with them.
Twenty-five years is also a very short time. It’s not enough time to make up for mistakes in one’s parenting. It’s not enough time for you to be this grown. 
It goes by so very fast. How have you grown so much in such a short time? It wasn’t that long ago that we brought our beautiful baby girl home from the hospital. It was just a little while ago that we drove to school listening to “Beatles for Breakfast.” And even more recently that we went on those crazy band trips. You know, the ones you really didn’t want me to go on, but tolerated me anyway.
Just a few nights ago, we lay on my bed talking about boys, giggling into the night…you asking questions and then protesting when I tried to answer them. Only moments ago, we dropped you off at Sam Houston State University, forcing ourselves to leave as you cried, saying you didn’t want to stay there. Of course, you stayed four years and graduated with a wonderful degree, making us glad we encouraged you to stay, though our hearts were breaking. Shortly after that, we drove to Cleveland, with you following us in your little Hyundai. Again, we forced ourselves to leave you, knowing it was in God’s plan for you to be there. And now you are living in Cleveland, with a career and a great group of friends and a wonderful church.
You are twenty-five years old and it happened too fast. And while we celebrate the twenty-five years we have had you in our lives, I am amazed at what you have become. You have remained our precious little girl, while also becoming our adult friend. You have developed your gifts and talents and are using them to God’s glory. You have become a good friend to so many. You are a mentor to young children and a seeker of wisdom from older adults. You are a woman of courage and strength through the Holy Spirit and a woman of tender love through Jesus.
I thank God for every moment of your life.
Happy Birthday Cara
Love,
Mom
