Mama Says: Happy Birthday, Aleta!

So, thirty something years ago, I headed to the hospital yesterday. Twenty seven hours later, on July 31, Jackie and I became parents. We did not know ahead of time what the sex of the sex of our child would be. You must remember, this was before routine sonograms, so I never had one when I was pregnant with Aleta. But I always felt like it was going to be a girl. I remember the doctor telling us it was a girl, looking over at Jackie, both of us with tears in our eyes. We were thrilled!! Surprisingly, Jackie was hoping for a girl also. And Aleta was born on Jackie’s mother’s birthday, which was kind of neat, since I was born on my grandfather’s birthday.

Thus began our parenting journey, a journey that we both enjoyed. Aleta was an only child for almost 8 years. In so many ways, she is so much like me. Bless his heart, Jackie tried to make her a cowgirl, alas, with little success. He started when she was about 18 months old. He put her on his old (Old, old) horse, Tiny, holding onto her. Tiny kind of bucked, Jackie grabbed for the horse, and Aleta went tumbling off the back, and ended up with her first black eye. He bought her a horse when she was about 6 or 7 and tried so hard to get her to like riding. She was bucked off, and that ended her life as a cowgirl. Aleta did not subscribe to the belief of getting back in the saddle after falling off. We camped a lot when Aleta was young. We visited and camped at the state parks, because Jackie was a park ranger. Jackie taught Aleta to ride a bike, and we would ride the bike trails at the parks. Generally, we would ride single-file, with me or Jackie in front, Aleta in the middle and the other in the back.

Our trips to Paines Prairie gave Jackie the idea to build Aleta a playground. My one request was that it be built on the side of the house or in back of the house. I knew Jackie so well, it seems. I came home and found him building in the front yard. Everything Jackie did, he sort of went over the top. He talked about building a swing set. This project sort of grew and grew. We had a swing, a swinging bridge, a two-level balance beam, monkey bars, and a two-story fort with a fireman’s pole to get down from the second floor. I must say, a number of kids (and several adults), enjoyed that play area over the years.

These were just some of the things I was thinking about as I contemplated Aleta’s upcoming birthday. As I said before, we were thrilled to become parents. I hope both our children know how special they were to us, and how much their father loved them.

It’s odd how time passes so quickly and how life changes. It all seems like yesterday. At any rate, parenting has been fun. And I’ve discovered that I enjoy them just as much as adults.

I wish for my daughter a Happy Birthday. Aleta, may you have a blessed, fabulous day.