• Sometimes I call her “Toots” and sometimes she calls me “Pop.”
• Many, many moons ago she was minding her own business when her mother started spending a lot of time with a young man who had nothing to do with a daughter’s life. Or perhaps he had everything to do with her life, but didn’t know how to do anything except miss an opportunity. Can an audience forget a bad note, no matter how good the performance that follows? Can a jury disregard a piece of evidence, no matter what the judge says about ignoring it?
• She has a father, and I never believed she desired another. So I became something else. I’m still not completely sure what it was or is. Maybe it’s time I find out.
• She is the little girl I never knew. She is the struggling teen I could never comfort. She is the adult who never stops trying. She is the mother of a wonderful grandson.
• She probably understands things about me that I can’t see in myself. We probably need to share words with each other that we don’t know how to say.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my my one and only daughter. I do love you—forever.