Thanksgiving Day, 2008 -- I met two little girls who happily climbed next to me on an unfamiliar couch and perused the annual, toy-filled Black Friday ads extravaganza. I knew I'd charmed their socks off when we concluded an intense, hour long conversation regarding Hannah Montana, to which I was able to contribute in an intelligent and knowledgeable way. But they'd charmed my socks off too. I remember wondering if little girls could sense fear like dogs. Could they tell that I was nervous to meet my boyfriend's family for the first time? Did they understand how comfortable they made me feel?  Hannah Montana and an instant sense of we fit and suddenly, we were sold.

Flash-forward five years and one of those little girls hit the milestone birthday that means, good-golly-miss-molly, she's officially a little lady. She's tall and pretty and no longer impressed by my ability to talk Hannah Montana like a boss. Now we talk nail polish and dirt-bikes and Instagram.

That's because she's twelve now. A little lady.





























Happy Birthday, Senorita Silly-Pants
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Now for the highlights.
And a fun little secret: Ryan roller skates. Proudly. Apparently there wasn't much to do in the 80's and everyone skated on the weekend. My sister, roughly the same age as Ryan, concurs that this is historical fact. Everyone went to the roller rink on the weekends. And it was cool.

Also, evidently rollerskating is like riding a bike.

I digress. The highlights.

Look who found her own wings to fly by the end of the night. 
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This weekend, I had a friendly reminder that, no matter your circumstances, you have the opportunity to build your own family. Yes, that involves cherry-picking, but I think that's important. You get to choose to have only positive people in your life. That's okay and maybe even healthy to make those choices.

I chose roller skaters.
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