The Oldest

 

I've talked about My son and my youngest daughter, now let's talk about my oldest, Meagan.

 

Meagan has grown to be a beautiful, sweet, extremely smart woman.  Anything she puts her mind to, she does it and she does it to perfection.

 

 

 

Just look at that face.  The cutest little girl around, but I'm biased.  But, all my kids were cute and adorable.  At this age my favorite story was when she was helping me cook chicken for dinner and somewhere she found a popcorn kernel and just by happenstance shoved it up her nostril. 

 

She thought it was cute, at first and so did I, until we couldn't get that darn thing out.  I wish I had taken a picture, but iphones weren't invented yet.  We got it out and she was off doing what little girls did at that age. 

 

 

She was so smart, and still is.  She never went to pre-school and by the time she went to Kindergarten she was already at a 1st grade reading level and could spell and write her own name.  She loved learning, loved school to death.  Her mind blossomed the more and more she went to school and it was like a sponge just soaking up more and more water.  She always got straight A's and they were easy A's for her.  She was a TAG student (Talented and Gifted) and we were so proud of her.

 

 

She followed in my footsteps and took dance classes.  She only took them for a short time, they just weren't her thing.  Mallory took tap classes and loved them, that made me happy, since I spent 8 years of my life living in a dance studio.

 

Nope, her thing was school and pets.  Over the years she had many pets, from a turtle, a cat who was much loved, and a hamster that scared her to death.  Her brother had frogs.  So we had a good range of animals, oh let's not forget the dalmation dog we had....that was an experience.  He was loved, but way to big for my family and I was done raising 2 year olds.

 

As she got older, she really stayed away from the boys until she reached high school.  Her high school was a break-off school for those talented enough that would find regular high school boring.  Brian and Mallory went there as well.  She dabbled in boys and had a few friends that were boys. 

 

All the kid's friends loved to come to our house because I was the super mom, always friendly to the friends, funny and fun to be around.  I grew very fond of some of her friends and Brian's as well.  In fact, one of Brian's high school friends is one of my friends on facebook.

 

I taught her how to drive and that was fun and stressful, but we got through it and she passed on the first time.  She had her share of car accidents, but didn't we all as teenagers.  At least I did. I had 3 in one year.

 

There was one solid family rule in our home and it was you graduate from high school, neither her father or I did.  We later got our GED's.  You don't do drugs or alcohol and you don't get pregnant. 

 

This was Christmas 2011 and she is holding the Princess Diana doll she hand crocheted for me.  She actually made me the whole bridal party.  The train is 3 feet long and she made it all herself, down to the panties, stockings, jewelry and flowers and the little girls headpieces.  It is a direct replica of Princess Di's dress and I will treasure it forever.  The party now sits in my piano room with all my other priceless items.

 

 

Well, they all kept those rules and Meagan did too, except right after graduation she found herself pregnant.  The situation was a giant problem as the young man was 3-4 years younger than her and his mother was raising a holy fit.  She insisted on an abortion and all the kids knew my position on abortion and adoption, particularly.

 

Meagan took the easy way and had an abortion.  You think my heart is broken from not having Mallory in my life.  The pain of that abortion cracked my heart into tiny little pieces and took me years to overcome and realize that she had been an adult and it was her life and that was the choice she made.  That started the dark years for us.  We had about a 10 year gap where we didn't talk and it all started because of the abortion.

 

Then I heard several years later that she got pregnant again and this time the blow was even harder as she put that baby up for adoption.  I was devastated once again.  I handled the abortion, but the adoption was another story.  One of the biggest hurts was that everyone in the family knew, except Brian and they all kept it from me.  That hurt the worst.  I've seen that child one time, but still count her as one of my grandchildren.

 

Anyway, moving fast forward.  Meagan had developed a loving relationship with a stellar match, her love, Tyler.  They spent A LONG time together, like 10 years and he then finally popped the question.  They were engaged and I was thrilled.  Both Brian and Mallory got married at the courthouse, but this was going to be a wedding, a true blue beautiful wedding and I got to be apart of it.

 

 

She was the most beautiful bride.  Her long flowing hair had been curled for hours and then it all fell out.  She made her own headpiece and it was spectacular.  She made her own jewelry and I supplied all the Something's.  The wedding was held in the historic Benson Hotel in downtown Portland and it was the most beautiful day in October 19th, 2012.  The weather was warm, the sun was out and that was rare for the Pacific Northwest.

 

Victor and I paid for the pictures and her new in-laws (great, wonderful people I've ever met) pitched in quite a bit as well.  Meagan and Tyler did all the rest themselves.  It was so beautiful, except her dad wore blue jeans with sandals and socks.  He looked horrible, was silent and never spoke to her once.  It was maddening to me. Why come at all.....anyway..

 



 

This picture says it all in my book.  I love this picture of the two of us so much.  It shows such love between the two of us, but more so mutual respect.  It shows that even after 10 years of battling and hurt feelings on both sides, love always wins.

 

 

 

Another great favorite of mine.  I had just helped her get dressed, with the aide of her maid of honor, it literally took two of us to get her into that dress.  But, I was so pleased that the photographer was able to catch this moment.  A few tears shed as we looked into each other's eyes, no words needed spoken, just love flowed. 

 

 

Lastly, the gang is all here, almost.  There's me, Tyler, Meagan, Emma, Brian and Brian's wife Cameron.  Emma was the flower girl and she did a great job with those rose petals.  It was so cute because Tyler was whispering "come on Emma, come on Emma"  She was walking a bit slow.  She did have a lot of eyes on her.

 

They now live in Tacoma, WA in a 100 year old house (this year it turned 100) and they love it to death.  We helped them furnish some of it and put some period pieces in it that they wanted.  Meagan has done a fabulous job restoring it herself and just this past summer painted the entire outside of the house, with scaffolding and all.  Nothing stops this energizer bunny.

 

She's my girl and I'm so proud of her.  She has come such a long way and out of all the rubble a gem has shown through.  She has her quirky moments, but that's what makes her unique.  She is rich in talent, rich in love and has no street smart....lol

 

We use to laugh about that when she was younger.  She can do anything you put in front of her, but she has no street smart.  She's doing better though. 

 

To close this very lengthy post, all I have to say about my oldest, is I love her dearly.  She holds a special spot in my heart as my oldest.  I desperately wanted her, wanted a girl and fought tooth and nail to keep her.  I was only 17 when I had her.  There was no way ANYONE was going to take my baby.  I made sooooo many mistakes with her and if anyone has room to complain about being a bad mother, she does for sure.

 

 

But, I love her to pieces and more importantly, I respect her!

 

I am Debbie and I was here....