Day 3-Round 12

  Today I wrote a letter of appreciation to my 30 year old daughter,enclosed with her birthday card.Paige turns 30 on Feb. 11.Paige and I have always had a rocky relationship.She was my hard-headed child and we were always banging heads with one another.She is a real animal lover and needless to say while she was growing up,we ended up adopting numerous pets-a skunk,an opossum,lizards,rats,snakes,tarantulas,dogs,cats etc.She brought home my favorite pet,Layla,a Great Dane.I took Layla with me everywhere I went.I was a hospice nurse at the time and she kept me company while I logged many miles on the road,traveling to peoples houses.She also brought home my next favorite animal,Houdini,a cockatoo.I took Houdini with me a lot of places-one time I was driving down the road with Houdini on my shoulder.Houdini always climbed down my arm and stood on my wrist and grabbed the steering wheel with his beak.A car was driving past us and the passenger had a camera with him and he quickly took a picture of us before they turned onto the highway.So I thanked Paige for bringing me all the animals through-out the years and all the great memories I have because of them.(The only pet I ever made her bring back,was when she brought home a scorpion.I simply told her,if it got loose in the house,I would drop an encyclopedia on it-so she better bring it back to the store where she got it.)  I know it made me feel good telling her the ways I appreciated her unique qualities and I think she will feel good hearing me list specific things about her-instead of just a blanket"I love you".