Happy Birthday, Christina!

My, we were young! We were clueless newlyweds - married 9 months and five days when our honeymoon baby was born.
It was a fairly easy birth. About 13 hours start to finish. We had quite a ride to the hospital, though. It was a two hour drive. And the car broke down. We left it with a note somewhere between home and Montgomery.
Fortunately my in-laws were behind us. That time is pretty blurry for me. I know I laughed and Buddy was a wreck.

There she was all 9 pounds and a couple ounces of blonde, blue-eyed, floppy blueness. Oh, no, floppy blueness is not a good thing. So she was suctioned and whisked away and poked and prodded and given oxygen. She hates when I say what was wrong, so I won't - those of you who know, know. Those of you who don't - well, she had a lung infection.

It's strange to see a giant baby like that in a NICU. The other babies are so tiny and fragile. Our girl sure didn't look like she should be there and she didn't act sickly. Her white blood count was dangerously high, though. She was adorable. White peach fuzz, inquisitive, alert blue eye. A screech that could be heard three floors away. She had reason to scream - her little feet looked like pin cushions. There was an IV attached to her head because she was strong enough to remove them from her feet and arms. We were there all the time. And finally a week later, we were allowed to take our little Christina Marie home. We named her after our grandmothers - both strong, faith-filled women.
She was a terror. Never slept. Really the child slept maybe 6 hours a day. I don't think that's changed much. We found out when she was about a year old that she had some serious food allergies.  She outgrew them about age 7 but they have come back of late.
Christina didn't love school, but she did well in grade school. She liked spelling and we took her to the Alabama State Spelling Bee finals. That was fun. She homeschooled through high school. And then went to community college because she was bored. We should have known something was strange about this kid when she decided to take automotive mechanics.
She was the best female automotive mechanic student in Alabama. No, she really was. Skills USA Alabama winner. She did OK in Kansas City at the finals, too.
Then she left us and went away to Ave Maria University. She was awarded a full tuition and room and board scholarship. She told us she was going to take Econ or something mathematical so she could be an engineer. Something practical. But she fell in love with the Greeks and I have always told my kids to do what they love. And so that is what she majored in. Ave is a tough school and Classics is a tough major. She did reasonably well and graduated this past December. (although the ceremony didn't happen until last weekend.) And, I guess, if she ever has to, she can fall back on the automotive skills.
In the meantime, she met a nice young man.  RC Gibson. Local boy. Very kind. And determined. After a very rocky start, upon which College-In-A-Camper expounds here, they decided to get married.  
So for her graduation we gave her a wedding. And then last week, we gave her a cool key ring. To go with the keys of her new Beemer. We had no idea she was getting a car cool enough to go with the keyring. Oh. Just a joke, huh? OK. Still her keys look stunning on the new key ring. LOL
Since I am a thousand miles from home, I just don't have access to the pictures of Nin as a little girl in her spinning dresses, or her head IV or her basketball uniform or under the hood of a car. But I have this one:

Nin and RC and the Artium Baccalaureus

 

 

Congratulations and Happy Birthday, Darling Girl. We're so glad you were sent to us and we're so proud of you!