I started writing out this post a couple of weeks ago and up until today, at this moment, I still could not find the right words to justify my feelings. So I figured if I start typing, the words (and tears) would start to flow. This post is about the most important person in my life. Without her I would not be the person I am today. Without her I would not have compassion, strength, and a sense of pride in something only me and one other person could claim. I am talking about my daughter. We met on this day 12 years ago! I was full of fear, worry and stress. I got pregnant at nineteen and had not a clue how to take care of another human. Let alone a baby… but there I was, in the hospital bed staring at this tiny little human. She was 5lbs 13 oz, helpless, and innocent. Sitting there with her in my arms I realized this little baby was depending on me… and although some people told me my life was over, my life was just beginning. I cannot sit here and say life was easy and breezy because it was not. We had our struggles but I always had my family. When no one else was there for the day-to-day struggles they were there to encourage me, make me more confident and give me a break when I really needed  it. My daughter was a handful! She would cry ALLLLLL day!! You may think I am exaggerating but take the most colicky baby and times that by two. That was her! Sometimes I felt as if I was going out my mind…sometimes I felt as if I wanted to give up on her. It was that bad! But you learn to deal and things slowly got better. I honestly feel when she was crying that whole time she just had a lot to say but just couldn’t speak because my daughter is the ultimate chatterbox!! 12 years later I sit and chuckle about the early years. I often reflect on her younger years and the silly things she use to say or do. The way she would refuse to go to bed unless her tennis shoes were on her feet! Or the way she used to try to climb in my sister’s high bed and get stuck in mid air….half of her body on the bed, and the lower part hanging off pleading for our help but we would leave her there for pure entertainment! LOL! I thank God for my Daughter everyday. At this point, my life without her would be pointless if she was not here. She is my cheerleader, my critic, my right hand woman, and the reason I get up everyday and do what it is I have to do. I often look at her now when she thinks I am not looking at her and my heart melts. She is growing up. I sometimes watch her as she combs her hair in the morning…. something I use to do… or how she is now into earrings because she thinks they make her look prettier…. or how she tells me about her crush at school over dinner which makes me lose my appetite but I do not flinch because I always want her to feel she is able to tell me everything without me overreacting. It is amazing to watch this once tiny human grow and mature into someone you still see the same as the day they were put into your arms. In the end, I would not change our journey for nothing. Granted at the time I wish I was more established and was able to give her all the things I wanted her to have and what I felt she deserved however she never went without. And it made me realize you never understand how strong you are until you have a baby. It took her to show me that. In the end I just hope she is proud to have me as her Mommy because I am extra proud to have her as my baby!