Today is my lovely daughter’s 35th birthday.  How did that happen?  Time flies that’s for sure.  Still, I have had 35 amazing years watching my daughter grow into a remarkable woman. 

Today, I thought a lot about my baby girl, and the day she entered this world. Her father, David Finney, held her first.  The image of him holding her still makes my eyes well up with such happy tears, for he held her close as tears poured down his cheeks.  Even though we are no longer together, we know we created “someone extra special.”

She had a mass of curly black hair, and she was dark complected and she reminded me of my dad.  The soft pink blanket that she was wrapped in made her look even darker.  She was perfect and so beautiful.  My mama remarked, “Oh look at my little taco baby!”  Mama also said that looking at Leslie was like looking at one of her own babies.

Later that day, I remember my grandma called me while I was in the hospital.  She wanted to know all the details.  My grandma’s name was Elva Marie Bryant Allen.  Marie has become a family name for the females in our family.  My mom, me, Leslie, and Sierra all carry that name.  I told grandma that I wanted to name her Leslie Elva Marie, but grandma never liked her first name, and told me “not to saddle that little one with that name.”  Many years later when I shared that story with Leslie, she told me that she wished I would have named her Leslie Elva Marie; I wished I would have too.

While at the hospital, I know the nurses were being kind when they kept telling me to sleep, but I wanted my baby.  I couldn’t hold her close enough.  Her eyes were bright, and she had sweet little lips that her Grandpa Finney would later call little rosebuds.  She was so tiny, for she was only 18 inches long, and she weighed 7 pounds.  The outfit I brought to bring her home was too big, but that didn’t matter.  Everything was perfect, and we were taking our sweet punkin home.

And now 35 years later, my daughter still makes my world a perfect place.  I love you Leslie Marie.

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