a birthday that satisfies

“I'm so glad you're here, Anne,' said Miss Lavendar, nibbling at her candy. 'If you weren't I should be blue…very blue…almost navy blue. Dreams and make-believes are all very well in the daytime and the sunshine, but when dark and storm come they fail to satisfy. One wants real things then. But you don't know this…seventeen never knows it. At seventeen dreams do satisfy because you think the realities are waiting for you further on.” 
― L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Avonlea


She turned seventeen today.

 Turning seventeen deems celebrations and such stretching out into more than one day. A small part of this day included a stop to the newly opened Biggby Coffee because she was itching to give their mango smoothies a try and I was itching to make a simple dream come true.

She was a princess in all our eyes from the start. She proves that prayers are answered in the most astounding ways especially noted when a daughter is born just five days before her parents twenty-fifth wedding anniversary.

She certainly has her share of dreams and I'm glad she does. Thankfully, some of the realities of these past months have in fact not clouded her expectations of the future but instead have begun to create a perdurable cord waiting to be twisted and strengthened into something wondrous and far-reaching, the stuff that real dreams are made of.

"LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly." Psalm 5:3

Happy Birthday dear Charlotte!