I Missed a Birthday--again?

Well, I somehow, three years in a row, got Ruby's birthday wrong. Why do I think she was born on the 4th? Then I read the blog and saw that it is actually on Emily Messerly's birthday. Don't you think that would help me remember?

I thought all day about calling her tomorrow. I practiced singing, "Lollipop Song" in case she is still young enough to want me to, even over the phone. Last year when I went to Florida to visit, I remember her lovely smell as she pressed against my rib cage so she could feel my voice in "Little Bear". She never throws tantrums when I visit, she asked sweetly and politely and shows me her best love and respect for Mommy and Daddy. She gets extra stickers on her chart and lets me choose the book, and the song, and the poem. She puts me in charge of picking up her things and putting away her laundry. We love to eat things together, in our own separate bowls, of course. And she never vexes Lilly or Grace.

I don't know what I will do when I visit in seven weeks, and her hair falls heavily to the side, instead of all over her sticky face. She will be able to see my face closer and notice that I am not as tall as she remembers. Instead of knowing what her day was like, she will have to tell me. I hope she gives me lots of details (you know how Gramas are). This visit will be different, but the same eyes (my color), the same lips, (her mom's), the same middle child that I love (not for long--the middle child part, I mean!).

I think I should just give up and realize that maybe my job is to lengthen her birthday by calling her on the 4th every year! Think about her all day on the 3rd and call the next day.

Post Script!!! Sarah just called and told me that she blogged ahead. I am so.... But now I know that:
Ruby was not born on Emily's birthday, but the next day--the 4th.
I must have called on the 5th last year.
Sarah reads this blog at midnight.
I love Ruby fiercely, no matter what day it is.
Birthdays are not what I am good at.
I'm going to bed now.