I think it may be a sign of the times when you have to log on to your daughter’s MySpace in order to wish her a happy birthday.

Lauren has been in Missouri for three weeks now visiting with her cousins. Every time I have spoken with her she has made it a point to tell me how much fun she is having and that she is nowhere near ready to come home. I wish I could say the same. I’m more than ready for her to come home. I didn’t realize until today, when I was faced with “celebrating” her birthday without her, exactly how much I miss her.

We’ve had some wonderful and amazing times over the last fifteen years. She and I both went through quite a bit in the early years of her life, some of it not all that pleasant. I’m very thankful that she was too young to remember those days and that the biggest portion of her memories are good ones. The Mother-Daughter Dynamic has been one that I have enjoyed, even on the bad days. I’ve grown and learned just as much, if not more than, she has over the years. While every day is not a bed of roses, I would repeat them all and not change a thing.

I remember the day she was born like it was yesterday. I remember seeing her for the first time and crying at the beauty of it all. (Or maybe it was the pain. Could be both.) Her perfectly shaped little cone head, cheeks so swollen and red that they could rival dear ‘ole Santa himself, a scream that could have broken glass into a million pieces. The four and a half hours of constant pushing to get her here suddenly didn’t matter (ok. I exaggerate.) once I got to see her, hold her, kiss her, and just be with her. It was truly the greatest day of my life up until that point.

This will be our third official year in the “teenager” stage of life and I am hesitant to say how wonderful it’s been so far. Yes, she is a very strong willed, independent girl naturally and the additional hormones tend to make her unbearable at times. That’s to be expected. All in all, however, she really is a good girl and I consider myself very lucky to be her mother. I can only hope and pray that the remaining “teenage” years go as well.

We leave tomorrow, headed to Missouri to spend a couple of days and bring The Girl home. We’ll be back on Monday (Christmas Eve) evening, get up early and do Christmas morning breakfast at my mom’s, and then the rest of the holiday time off is mine to do with as I please. I think I’ll spend it making up for lost time with my daughter as much as possible.

Well, that and a little surfing the net. Don’t give me that look — she’ll be doing the MySpace thing. Only this time it will be someone else missing her while I have her home safe and sound with me.