Happy Birthday: It’s Just About… Sophie!

Dateline, January 9th, 2013. The very first post ever on this blog, dedicated to one person. Back then the blog had a different title – Moments: Observations of Life:

How did we get here?  Any one who has ever raised a child asks themselves that same question daily. Every story is different and every experience gives new hope and new heartache and every Moment is …. well, worth it.  It was on this day back in 2000, in the middle of the afternoon my Moment happened. It’s the one no one ever prepares you for, because they can’t. It’s impossible.  Prior to Sophie being born, I will never forget someone telling me that he thought I was as ready and prepared and excited to be a father as anyone he ever met…but he promised me I still had no idea what was about to happen.  I thought he was crazy, now I give him credit.

At 3:41 on January 9th, 2000, it happened. That Moment. You can’t be prepared, you can’t imagine what it’s like, you can’t fathom the depths to which it will touch your heart. I remember months later, post birth, watching NBC’s Matt Lauer talk about the birth of one of his own children on the Today Show. He talked about it in a way that made perfect sense and I’ve never forgotten, cause he was right on the money.  “Why do you cry at the birth of your child”, he asked? I mean it’s such a happy occasion!  It’s simple.  Never before in your life, until that moment, have you ever loved something so much, so quickly, so deeply…”

Fast forward to today. And yes that’s exactly what time does… it goes fast, too fast. Time never stands still, even when you want it to. It’s why we snap a picture, or shoot a video, in the vain hope it will help time stay right where it is, and yet it only give us a chance to relive that moment, for time has already moved on.

Today my big girl, Sophie turns 15. As she said to me last night on the drive to drop her off for her play rehearsal – she’s halfway to 30. Really? Sophie, I’m good – right here, right now. Besides who wants to think too much about the future, let’s enjoy the moment, live fully in the present and now and then go against all odds, against the tide and do the impossible, something only words and pictures can do, turn back time…

So here’s another excerpt from the very first post on this blog back on Sophie’s 13th birthday, January 9th, 2013:

So today, miracle number one, Sophie, turns 13.  Before I came down to blog early this morning I peeked in on her one more time, she was fast asleep. It’s such a beautiful thing. Sleep that is. 🙂  Watching Sophie sleep, watching both my girls sleep.  When they are lying there safe in their beds with their eyes closed, its peace at its finest and purest.  The lives I helped create – dreaming, growing, full of hope, promise and adventure. I wouldn’t trade it for the world.  It’s Sophie who gave me the honor to accept and to take on life’s greatest responsibility.

I’ve told Sophie this before and it is for this reason she will always hold a special place in my heart – she made me the one thing I never could have been without her – a Dad. A few years later my baby girl Emily doubled the miracle, and I love them both equally, I really do.  But Sophie will always get to claim the title, for it was her first breath that took mine away, forever.

Happy Birthday my love. It’s because of you and Emily that every day your Mom and I wish time would just stand still.

Until next time, thanks for taking the time.

Mark

Mark Brodinsky, Author, Blogger, Speaker, Financial Services

The #1 Amazon Best-Seller: It Takes 2. Surviving Breast Cancer: A Spouse’s Story

(http://www.spouses-story.com/)

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