Sometimes You Get Lucky!

(I took all of these pictures of Laura Cakes)

SOMETIMES you just get really really lucky, and one of the best souls in the universe is sent from Heaven to live in the body of the child you gave birth to. That's what happened to me. People write to me and say that I don't talk about my second child as much as I do my first and last. They complain because I don't write and tell them what Laura is doing, but I'm quick to report Reuben's antics in the Army, or Caity's chaos at home! They're right. For that I apologize first to the brilliance that is my sweet middle-kid, and secondly to anyone who may have believed that I could possibly have loved her less - I do not. She is my soul.

I think because Laura is so wonderful, and she listens, and she does as she's told that I often over look her. Remember the story in the Bible about the good son, and the way he was always counted on...think Laura. She's all prim and proper (except when she burps at the table, and farts in the car to see if you'll notice) and she's all sugar and spice (except when she throws your clothes away because she thinks they're ugly and you should have consulted her first before the purchase.) Laura, I tell people, will tell you what to do, when to do it, how to do it; she'll make you a video full of instructions and read them to you if you prefer. She'd be more than happy to show up at your house and give you a consultation on absolutely any subject whatsoever because she knows absolutely everything - but there is one catch: You can't expect her to show up before 1:00 in the afternoon. Laura doesn't know what a sunrise is, and a sunset is what she refers to as lunch time.

Vampires find my daughter attractive.

Laura has forever been the one child I could call in the middle of the night to say I have had a bad dream. Her first response is "No Mom, Caity did that for real, it wasn't a dream. I'll fix it." Laura is the child that wants to learn to cook, she wants to learn to do laundry, she wants to learn to wash clothes, and golly-gee, she'd love to learn to make the bed, but there's just so much more to do during the day that it has to wait - another day - after 1:00 p.m. preferably.

Laura has no tattoos. I actually have Laura's tattoo on my wrist because she couldn't bear the needles. She was freaked out by the thought of it, but wanted the tattoo, so now she shows everyone a picture of my left wrist when they ask her if she has any tattoos or piercings. She does have ONE piercing...her right ear I think. She couldn't take the next needle. I'm serious. No, I'm serious. Look next time you see her.

Laura is my golden baby - my inner strength, my stubborn, off-the-wall, goofy little fluff ball that shows up with mud in her hair, water-beaten from chasing her sister up a tree in the downpour, but says to me "Don't ask..I'll fix it! It wasn't my fault" and somehow I am comforted by her words.

I love you darling. Good luck on your new adventures! (She's singing in Japanese and trying to get a Japanese label. She goes to Tokyo in the fall to do just that!) Taught herself - you knew she could.