All Grown Up

Yesterday Lauren turned eighteen so according to the world she is all grown up. Four other, very typical kids here have reached this mile stone and they are certainly not grown up yet so Lauren isn`t either.

When it comes to Lauren, physically she is a beautiful blonde, with huge blue eyes. Her braces will very soon come off her teeth and she will have a gorgeous smile, too.

In all other respects she is and will always be a little girl. She needs her meals prepared, clothes laundered, and home kept clean. She needs to be kept safe, cared for, and loved. She needs someone to deal with all of her many medical needs, handle her money, and make sure she is safe in the community. She likes to be very involved in all of this, but doing any of it on her own would be a disaster.

She still really likes to be read to, her favorite game is Sorry (we have played it hundreds of times), she still like purple anything and everything, and she still plays with her baby dolls often. She likes her hair fixed so Karre game her two feathers for her birthday.

What will this grown up life hold for her? Right now there are lots of unknowns. All I wish for her is that she be happy. I don`t care if she is someone in a grown up body who is still a kid, that`s just fine as long as she is happy with being who she is.

And now we can put November 21st back on the calendar. Dad kept telling Lauren that they forgot to put it on the calendar so she could not have a birthday and she just kept saying "Monday is my birthday, don`t forget"!

We could never forget the day Lauren was all grown up! We celebrated with purple and pink cake.and will go out to Applebees, her favorite restaurant next weekend when most of her siblings are home.