Today is my favorite youngest daughter’s birthday.<\/p>\n
A few days ago Julia demanded I write a blog post in celebration of this auspicious day.\u00a0 Actually she didn’t really, one of the many things I like about her is that she is assertive without being demanding.\u00a0 She knows her own mind and won’t bow before anyone, including me.\u00a0 As every child everywhere should be, not only to their parents but to the entire world, Julia is a very special child.<\/p>\n
Last night my wife insisted we get a birthday card.\u00a0 I’m not big on such things, however I changed my mind as soon as she said, “They mean a lot to her.”\u00a0 Isn’t that the essence of what birthday celebrations should be about?\u00a0 The things that mean a lot to the one whose birthday it is, rather than to those whose birthday it is not?<\/p>\n
On Wednesdays Julia gets to sleep in since classes for the entire Junior and Senior grades start late due to something called “Working Wednesday”.\u00a0 I never slept well last night and though I tried to get in a couple of extra hours that effort turned out to be a dismal failure.\u00a0 Thus I was up, sitting on the couch when Julia came downstairs, plonked herself on my lap as though she is still five years old, and gave me a big hug while I wished her a happy sixteenth birthday.\u00a0 That is sort of a tradition, I always inform her I’ve decided I’m not letting her grow any older while telling her she is a a year younger than she actually is.\u00a0 She always responds by proudly asserting her real age.\u00a0 I held her in our hug for longer than usual, my head buried in her neck as I composed myself.\u00a0 I don’t think she noticed\u2026<\/p>\n
No matter what we do to try and keep our children young, they grow up\u2026<\/p>\n
But there is one place in which our children remain forever young \u2013 in our hearts.\u00a0 And in so doing their memory serves the same for us, so no matter what you do don’t let your children age.\u00a0 They truly are the fount of eternal youth.<\/p>\n
{P.S. To all you doubters of how special our children are here is a link that will take you to a few things Julia<\/a>, right on this blog. Today is my favorite youngest daughter’s birthday. A few days ago Julia demanded I write a blog post in celebration of this auspicious day.\u00a0 Actually she didn’t really, one of the many things I like about her is that she is assertive without being demanding.\u00a0 She knows her own mind and won’t bow before anyone, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4987","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","category-julia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cgayling.com\/malmaxa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4987","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cgayling.com\/malmaxa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cgayling.com\/malmaxa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cgayling.com\/malmaxa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cgayling.com\/malmaxa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4987"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cgayling.com\/malmaxa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4987\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cgayling.com\/malmaxa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cgayling.com\/malmaxa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cgayling.com\/malmaxa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nAnd here is another, a little fairy tale<\/a> I’m currently expanding into a Children’s Book inspired by my favorite youngest daughter, whose name I think you may already know.
\nAnd should you still be of a doubtful nature, here is the ultimate proof \u2013 a full-length work I promise is unlike anything you’ve ever read.\u00a0 Within Malmaxa<\/a> Julia is the Principal Heroine.\u00a0 Yes, I changed her name \u2013 not to protect her identity, but to reveal her true nature.\u00a0 Regardless, I’m sure you’ll soon recognize her and smile when you do…}<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"