An open letter to my amazing middle child on her 7th birthday:

My fabulous daughter,

You are 7 but it feels like you are going on 17 some days. You have the confidence of someone much older, but all the joy of someone still loving 1st first grade and that’s a combination I wish for you the rest of your life.

This year you have become more bold in all the things you love. In many ways not too much has changed since last year– You are the same funny, strong, quirky girl you have always been, it just seems that every aspect of you was magnified this past year. You make us laugh and you still take such good care of your siblings. You adore playing school with your sister and your stuffies and we all crack up when you want to play “spa” in incredible detail even though you have never been to a spa in your life. You have always been way cooler than me, but this is the year you insisted on claiming your space as an expert in all things “fashion” and you will frequently pick out crazy pattern “matches” and are always ready to accessorize with all things sparkly and colorful. You will often lecture me on how I have not accessorized enough. One of our favorite traditions we started this year is that you pick out said accessories more often than not now… you especially enjoy selecting which friendship bracelets I should wear on a given day. Speaking of those friendship bracelets…

You have liked Taylor Swift’s music ever since you were four years old, but this is the year you went full Swiftie. As a fellow swift, I have no complaints with this development. After you fell in love with the song Bejeweled you insisted on singing it for the talent show, even though it was not originally meant for Kindergarteners to audition. You made me cry when Speak Now (TV) was released and you spent days cuddled up with me singing Never Grow Up which never fails to make me tear up a bit. It was your turn to pick the family Halloween costume and none of us were surprised when you picked Taylor Swift’s Eras for our theme. You were very jealous that I got to go see Tay Tay in concert last spring, so I made it up to you by going all our for her movie of the concert. We went the first day all dressed up and it was so much fun to watch you trade friendship bracelets and sing your heart out. Now I am bracing for how much MORE confidence having such a fierce role model has given you. If you end up running the country some day, I’m pretty sure, at least in part, we have Taylor Swift to thank.

Being a Swiftie is not the only thing you have in common with your mom. You have also found your stride in running. Your sprinting is impressive and you are proving yourself as a distance runner too in events like the World Vision 6k for water as well as your school’s 100 mile challenge. (You were SO proud of yourself when you made it to 25 miles before your brother and I can’t wait to see you continue to work on this challenge now that we are in the best time of year for running.) You even got up early during the early days of my half marathon training to go to group runs with me. I love seeing you confidently move your body with JOY!

Something else that intensified this year is a desire for adventure, travel, and learning about other parts of the world. You absolutely loved our trip to Glacier and the adventures we had there (well, aside from the driving through the mountains part, I’m sorry you got your mom’s crappy inner ears that make you car sick and are sensitive to altitude changes…) and on of my favorite memories I have was made with you when we went hiking to see Grinnell Glacier.  You had so much fun on the hike that included a rickety bridge, and you were the only one of your siblings to take off your shoes and wade through glacial water to get a better look and skip stones in the water. We screamed and laughed from the cold and your adventurous spirit was shining for all the other hikers to see. When it comes to future adventures, you are very interested in South America. You were already intrigued thanks to Up and Encanto, but since two of your best friends in your class are from Spanish speaking families you desperately want to learn Spanish and add Mexico and several South American countries to future travel plans. You have also told us that you want to travel to Africa and meet our sponsored child through World Vision. You LOVE the Shakira song Waka Waka and ask me to play it as the only non-Taylor Swift pump up songs on our run together.

I am looking forward to seeing where your joy and adventurous spirit take you. We love you so much. You have such a kind heart and bring us so much joy. Have the best year my sweet 7 year old

All my love,

Mom