Letter to Hannah on her 7th birthday

Dear Hannah,

On your 7th birthday, what I remember distinctly is how excited you were to go to school to celebrate in Ms. Adams first-grade classroom. You knew that you would be able to have a hat made, sit in the special chair, have treats, and be the line leader, and you were so excited! 


I was equally excited to meet you for lunch and to celebrate with you on your 7th birthday! 


Right before you officially turned 7, you displayed a great deal of adaptability because we traveled to St. Louis for Connor's First Communion. We also decided not to have a big friends' party, and you did not seem to mind. You love being with your family, and you were excited that most everyone would be together. 


What I remember the most after the First Communion was going back to our cousin's house and having a big party not only to celebrate Connor's First Communion but also your joint birthdays! He is just one year older than you, and you both loved playing outside and doing legos together. You also loved the blue icing on the cake! 



On the way home the next day, we were going to celebrate your birthday at Grandma's house with all of our family, but then we had trouble with our car on the drive home. We had to drive really slowly because Grandpa's car had gone into a safety mode to protect the transmission, so we spent 5 hours on the road when it would normally take only three! You slept through a lot of it because of the excitement of the festivities the day before. You are still a good sleeper to this day.  


You are also a decisive 7-year-old. We let you pick where you wanted to celebrate, and you chose Culver's right away! You said they have the best burgers around, and you also loved their ice cream. I was so happy that you didn't seem to miss a beat, and when we went into Culver's the staff were so friendly to all of us. You didn't miss a beat in ordering your burger, and you loved Aunt Kate's cake as well, of course.


One serendipitous and well-deserved moment for you, Hannah, given your patience throughout the day, was when the server realized it was her birthday and suggested that a fellow co-worker sing for you because he was an excellent singer. You are an avid singer too, Hannah, and you were duly impressed with his talent.



Hannah, you bring joy to our family and complete our family in so many ways, and I appreciate greatly your desire to try new things as you did this year with dance and soccer. You really seemed to love dance, and you have a great musicality about you. I cannot wait to see where it takes you next. 




I love watching you grow up, Hannah, and I cannot wait to see what the next year brings for you! 

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