Dear Pumpkin Pie,
Today you turn 20. I can't believe it has been twenty years since we started our journey together. By the time you were born we had travelled through Europe together and we had consumed more ice cream and McChicken burgers than is good for anyone. You also gave me this really weird craving for smelling nail polish and eating ice.
I remember the day you born and being absolutely terrified. My terror wasn't helped when the Doctor walked into deliver you dressed in what can only be described as a butchers outfit, with a big white apron and the biggest pair of white Wellington boots I have ever seen. I was so sure that you were going to be a boy, so when they told me you were a girl (which is what I really wanted) I didn't believe them. When they put you in my arms and you looked at me with the beautiful blues eyes and I felt a rush of love I had never felt before. I also felt panic like I have never felt before in my 23 years. I looked at you and my look said " We are going to have to muddle our way through this together- because I have no freaking idea what the bloody hell I am doing."
Well lets just say you weren't all that patient with me- because you screamed a hell of a lot, and you slept even less. Lucky you were so cute with your little red hair.
As far as being a parent, I did my best, but lets just say I wouldn't say I was a natural. We muddled our way through it together, but not all my moments were my finest. I am really sorry about the time I yelled at you to stop crying, when the reason you were crying was because you had a really bad ear infection, and I am also sorry about the time I took you to kindy thinking you had a mosquito bite, when actually it was chicken pox. Sorry about that time I gave you a packet of TicTacs to entertain yourself with, but lets face it, it never really occurred to me that you would put one up your nose. I bet that really hurt. And maybe I should have put that bottle of painstop further out of your reach when you were two. I know you were only trying to help me when you decided to drink the WHOLE bottle, but I think we both could have done without that trip to the hospital when they had to hold you down so hard to get the charcoal into you that you had fingerprint marks on you for days. It was kind of funny though when all we could hear from the waiting room was you screaming "I WANT MY NANNY." Then there was that time we got lost in Sydney and we had to follow the monorail tracks back to the hotel. And then time you nicknamed my dad "E" because that's what Nanny yelled at him the whole time.
We have had some good laughs together. There was the time when you were a little baby and on your way to your first ever Grand Final and you finally fell asleep as the plane landed, and a lovely young man who was in a band called Take That ( I believe his name was Robbie Williams) looked at you and apologised that the screaming fans were about to wake you up. Or the time when we flew Business Class to Bali, and Economy on the way home, and you told me " Mummy they have made a mistake, we are meant to be at the front of the plane." Story of my life.
Then there was the time that Placid Domingo- one of the worlds most famous opera singers- asked if he could pronounce your name the European way. You said " No". He laughed and said "Don't you know who I am." You looked at him, said "No"and walked off. Then there was also the time when you were playing in the playground with the son of a tennis player called Pat Cash. You walked up to the swing, looked at the kid, pushed him off and walked away. I was left trying to apologise to one of the worlds best tennis players. It would have been less awkward if the poor kid didn't have glasses and was a bit awkward.
So on your 20th Birthday, thank you for being a really cool kid. You are the Saffy to my Eddy, you are responsible where I am not, you calm me down when I get flustered (like when we landed in London and I had no bloody idea how to buy an Oyster Card for the Tube) and I am so incredibly proud of the adult that you have become.
In the words of Whitney Houston " I wanna dance with somebody" oh no wrong song-
"I hope life treats you kind
and I hope you get all you dreamed of
I wish you joy and happiness
But of all things
I wish you love"
Happy Birthday baby girl
Mum
xxxxx
P.S. I know I didn't have to write this on a blog, but then I wouldn't have the opportunity to embarrass you.
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