Double Digits

Madeleine turns ten and things will never be quite the same .  Tonight, it is Wagamama's (her choice) where we discuss nine's highlights (and I quote): "stuff." 


Madeleine always an original. From the mad dash down the birth canal (too quick for an epidural) to the first breath : "Here I am!".   Later, it was tree climbing :  Look, there's my daughter, twenty-five feet overhead. This taught the unteachables : risk-taking, goal setting .. determination. Stubborness.  No matter how I holler or coax, she is on her own time.

From reception , Madeleine has been a "tom boy,"  scraped elbows and bruised shins. Her friends are mostly all boys at a time when girls still the enemy. This not always easy when the birthday party-invitations and over-nights don't come.  Her heart otherwise filled with pets : bugs to fish to hamsters to Rusty (and soon, a lizard. .. ).

Madeleine today borders primary and secondary school; being a kid and adolescence.  She watches Eitan take the first steps off the cliff : sometimes a blessing, sometimes a curse.  We observe her progress in school, in drama and art, and sports, with wonderment and delight. What will the next year bring ? What joy to be around.