Birthdays and life

Today is my daughter's birthday. She's a young lady in her 20s, so I suppose I should not say exactly how old she is.

In a strange way, she is both very old and very young.

She is old in the wisdom she shows and how well she connects with people. She is the best person I know at learning. Always has been. She is a parent's and teacher's dream in the way she listens so well. She works hard to understand and is very honest about what has sunk in, where she disagrees and what is still gobble-de-gook. And her focus on honest learning has led her to deep truths about people and the world that I most certainly was nowhere near at her age.

She is also still young, with the impatience of youth and the sibling rivalry that still seethes sometimes with her younger brother, although they are both much better at it than they once were. Car journeys would be one long squabble. Ach, it gives me a headache just to think about it. It used to frustrate me that my persuasive learning seemed to be of limited effectiveness. The forces of nature were greater, I suppose.

She's now working on a master's degree in International Business after completing a degree in the History of Art and Architecture. Quite a leap in topic, but her amazing learning ability means she's getting there. Not that it is easy for her. She's intelligent, though not a genius. But she is very determined and very well organized.

In her private life, she has a circle of friends who she sees often and with who she has intense debates about life, the universe and everything. They are mostly guys, which is curious and understandable, given some history which I won't discuss here. She gets on famously with most men and her taste in boyfriends has improved over the years, at least in our critical parent-eyes. She gets on well with women, too. Like her parents, she makes acquaintance friends easily, but deep friendship takes time to develop.

She also does most of the organizing of events, from trips abroad to university group tasks. She discovered her ability to lead a few years ago on a college trip to Paris when people were dithering and she got impatient and just grabbed the reins. She also impressed us with her management of a troublesome landlord, gathering evidence, getting legal advice and confronting him with a landslide of data that allowed her to back out of a problematic contract without cost. That's my girl.

One day she'll make a great business manager, and maybe a great business leader. For now, she's a great daughter and it's her birthday, so we are celebrating.

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