Unpredictable

 Natalie set up camp in the breach position. This was especially annoying because Heather was desperately wanting to have a VBAC - a “normal” birth after Josiah’s Caesarian delivery. We kept checking to see if she changed position, hoping all the way until the final day that she would move. Right before our final appointment prior to delivery day, Heather said that it really felt like Nat had spun around. At the appointment itself, the doctor said she that she agreed. The plan was to do an ultrasound on delivery day to verify Natalie was still ready to go. If not, we would do the C-Section. When the picture popped up, Natalie has switched back with her tushie where her head should be. Now, babies are pretty big at this point, so that kind of flipping around doesn’t happen much. It was quintessential Natalie - always unpredictable and doing things her own way.

My mother gave Natalie dolls several times. She gave her handmade ones, which Nat would never play with. She also gave her ones with porcelain faces that really were supposed to just be displayed. These were the ones Natalie would use, until the rubber bands holding them together snapped.  When she rode in her stroller through the mall, nothing would get her bopping around faster than hearing Gwen Stefani and No Doubt on the radio. No standard kid-friendly music for this girl! Disney princesses? Sure. But not the ones available on everything. She loved Jasmine, who wasn’t on ANYTHING!

Once Natalie got into school, she continued her unique approach to life. While whipping her hair back and forth to the song of that name, she banged her head against the counter - wigging out her teacher. The next year, the school brought an owl in for the kids to see. Young Natalie came home and told us that the owl had pecked her on the nose during the assembly. We were a little stunned that we didn’t hear anything about this. A few months later she told us that the owl never pecked her. In fact she didn’t even get to see the owl. It was only for the older kids and she was jealous that she didn’t get to go, so she made up the story about the owl. What?

Nat was a sneaky little fink. We had this big pantry in our apartment. She would ask if she could have a Pop Tart. We would say yes. She would go into the pantry and eat one Pop Tart and then come out with the other one - with us none the wiser. She would sneak into the pantry to eat marshmallows. She did it so often she made herself sick and now can’t eat them at all. We had a computer in the office where the kids could play on our safe browser. They got into playing Club Penguin. They could get different characters and decorations and such. One day we hear Josiah screaming. “Natalie!! What did you do to my penguin?” We ran in there to see what had happened. He pointed at the screen and his penguin had a rainbow wig, a pink dress, and crazy decorations. Nat had logged into his account and spent his coins to prank him. We had a very hard time keeping a straight face over that one.

Justice. It used to be her favorite clothing store, but it has always been something she pushes for. From elementary school she has hated when students are treated unfairly by other students or by teachers. She has gotten herself into trouble socially and in the classroom for speaking her mind about situations. Consistently she stands up for the underserved, the underrepresented, the misunderstood. Her mature assessments of life has challenged us for years. She has made us really think about the world around us and how to interact with it.

Today is her sixteenth birthday. We had ramen for lunch (with fried baby octopi) and boba tea. Her cake was a big cup of tea as well. That’s a far cry from the usual burger and pizza places where most of our family birthdays are spent. But it makes perfect sense for Nat. She is unique. She is unpredictable. And I love it.

I love having a challenging daughter. I love having a rebel. I love her. She is spunky and salty and snarky. She is thoughtful and generous and hilarious. She is the most loyal friend someone could hope for. And she is a constant gift to us. Happy birthday sweet girl.