Happy Birthday!

As of 10:22 p.m. tonight, I'll be the mother of a 30-year-old. For some reason, it just doesn't seem like Julia should be 30 -- time slips away so fast.

Here are a couple of pictures:
In the upper picture, Julia is the child at the top of the group. (And I wasn't nearly as overwhelmed as I look in that picture.)

And of course, she is the mother of the adorable little boy in the next picture. I think her sparkling personality shows in both pictures.

I remember that when she was born, I was very happy, and very unsure of myself. I was terrified of giving her a bath. The first morning, when the nurses brought her to me, I looked at her and realized I had no idea how to take care of a baby (and this was after reading every baby book I could get my hands on). But then I realized she had never been a baby before, so she didn't know what to expect. I found that to be a comforting thought -- I didn't have to live up to anyone else's expectations of perfection, I could just do my best and be Julia's mother. She seems to have survived.

Now she's a mom herself, and I'm enjoying this new phase of our relationship. And I'm very proud of her -- as a woman, a wife, a mom and a lawyer.

Happy Birthday Julia!