On the 23rd of June back in 2009, a very small baby girl was abandoned at the Wu Shi medical center in Luchuan County, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, the People's Republic of China. A likely birthdate of June 20th was determined by examination.
On the 20th of June 2010, the still-small baby girl marked her 1st birthday with (to the best of our knowledge) no fanfare, no celebration, no gifts or party or guests... but the paperwork to finalize her adoption by an only slightly crazy woman in the United States of America was already being processed.
On and around the 20th of June for the next several years, as the baby grew into a toddler, then a little girl, then an almost-tween, her birthday was marked by celebrations and small-scale fanfare, often with several parties scattered across a week or two of the month.
Well, it's June 20th again, and this time things are just a little different. As the Pipsqueak has been reminding us literally since June 21st last year, today is the day she leaves the single-digit stage of her life behind forever. The countdown moved from "my next birthday" to an actual number of months, then weeks, then days and (for the past two weeks) an actual count of the hours & minutes until midnight marking the beginning of her official 10th birthday.
That scrawny, nearly bald baby girl with the double swirl of hair on the back of her head has morphed into a self-aware and self-actuated young girl with a sharp sense of humor (and even sharper sense of right vs. wrong) who -- in just the time since her last birthday and through her own desires & actions with just enough outside help to reach her self-set goals -- turned a love of music & rhythm into being a fixture on a successful competitive dance team; went from being moved into a remedial math class in school to doing really well in an advanced math class that has her working more than a year above grade level; learned how to play the recorder and flute (and also has her sights set on the guitar); successfully navigated a long interview & training process to become a member of her school's Safety Patrol; can do both her own and her mother's makeup; and has never lost or abandoned her innate empathy, caring, and desire to help others.
And now she is ten years old, and has joined the club of all those of us with double-digit ages that she will be a member of for the majority of her life. (I doubt I'll be around to see it, but her genetics and commonsense approach to staying healthy make it likely that she will become a member of the triple-digit club in the 22nd century.)
So, proud uncle that I am, I just wanted to take a moment out of a truly crazed and out-of-control daily schedule (and also take a moment away from quietly freaking out over the fact that the tiny l'il thing that peed on me from my armpit all the way down to my foot in a Guilin hotel room has reached the decade mark) to make sure y'all know that Miri is now officially TEN YEARS OLD. (yikes)
HAPPY 10TH BIRTHDAY, PIPSQUEAK!
WELCOME TO THE DOUBLE-DIGIT CLUB!
PS - Even after all these years, Miri still gets just as hangry, and remains just as unhappy with sudden loud noises, as during our first two weeks together in China. :-)
