The Dynamic Duo

March 26, 2008

Heather’s Birthday. I have been thinking about this post all day. As you can tell, I have kind of gotten out of the posting habit, but I knew I would have to write one today. After all, it’s my very favorite daughter’s birthday, and it’s one of those decade ones. UltraBob passed it a couple of years ago, and I’m not going to tell you which one it is, except to say that it rhymes with “dirty.”

Those decade birthdays sometimes seem to carry a little more punch than the in-between ones. I think that is mostly because of preconceived notions we carry of what people do at certain stages of life. But as I am discovering, many decade birthdays past Heather’s, we don’t have to be limited by those notions

I know I have written about this before, on previous Heather birthdays, so I’ll shorten it up this time. Heather was born on Easter, which we all know occasionally comes in March. My family had been invited to my house for Easter church and dinner, and I can still remember my Dad’s bleary, puzzled expression when we knocked on his door very early Easter morning to drop off young UltraBob before continuing on to the hospital. “I thought we were going to YOUR house.”

This was before the days of common ultrasounds, so we didn’t know until after the birth that we had a perfectly formed, exquisite baby girl. The red hair was a bonus. UltraBob was enchanted with his little sibling and wanted to point out her tiny perfect features to anyone who would listen. “Eyes!” he stated, as he attempted to jab his finger at each named item. “Nose! Ears! Mouth!”

After Heather was several months old and could hold her head up by herself, UltraBob was sometimes allowed to hold her, which he loved to do. She became his admiring audience for such feats as magnificently constructed block towers or made up stories and songs.

Heather always loved animals, and to those who know her now, it will be no surprise to learn that cats were her favorites. She was always covered in cat scratches from playing with the rough little kittens, but she never seemed to mind. One day, when she was in 5th or 6th grade she came home with a kitten that had been found in the schoolyard. Could we just keep the scrappy little calico, she wanted to know, until her owner was found? That was Brenda, our first house cat, and of course her owner turned out to be Heather. Brenda was not a particularly sweet cat; in fact once she tried to tear UltraDad’s face off. She probably only survived that one by her skill at hiding until he cooled off. But she did love Heather. One day she left a particularly thoughtful gift on Heather’s pillow: a freshly caught mouse! In the end, we had 4 housecats and Heather’s room was where they slept, ate and litterboxed. Heather still loves cats and currently has three: Callie, Nimbus and Rocky.

Out of all the kids, Heather was the one who really loved raising 4-H animals, especially the lambs. She got really good at carding, clipping and showing them, and always came home from the Butte County Fair with a fistful of blue ribbons from showing, fitting and demonstrations. It seems like she always had a girl lamb, and tended to name them after women in her life at the time, whom she admired. Come to think of it, I think she named Brenda the cat after her first Lamb 4-H Leader. The lambs I remember were Suzanne (I’m sure for Suzanne Livermore, our pastor’s wife at that time) and Lori, which also happened to be the first name of Mrs.Arnold, a Howe grade school teacher, whom Heather was good friends with.

I am so proud of the beautiful, capable and responsible young woman I am fortunate enough to call my daughter. She is also a lot of fun. I know that my trip to Japan would not been nearly as much fun without Heather there to share the experience. She made sure I got off the plane when I was drowsy from my motion sickness medicine. She made sure we found the right gates for plane boarding. She kept me entertained on the plane and train rides (when I wasn’t napping!) and kept me from getting lost in Zushi while we did a little exploring.

I was glad to hear that Heath, her longtime boyfriend was spoiling her today. She awoke to a festively decorated house and birthday gifts. And though I’ve been trying to show her how special she is to me by showering her with mail in this month leading up to her birthday, my actual gift to her is going to be a little late.

Happy Birthday, Honey. And many, many, many more. I love you very much.

UltraMom