Girls are made of sugar and spice

To my daughter, Aimee, who turns 29 today:

A daughter is a bundle of firsts that excite and delight, giggles that come from deep inside and are always contagious, everything wonderful and precious and my love for her knows no bounds.

Happy birthday Aimee. Become the best that only you know you can be. Best friends forever, MUM xx

Are girls really made of sugar and spice and everything nice?

Well yes, until they grow up.

As they morph into teenagers, they (I would like to believe) unconsciously begin to assert themselves as individual young women in their own right. That is, without any doubt, a good thing. After all, how many young men would want to partner or marry a young woman who is the spitting image of her mother in form, feature, focus, foibles and fetishes!!!!!

The problem is: we mothers KNOW that we know best so we (or at least I) spend a great deal of our (read: my) time trying to impress upon our daughters how things should be and should be done - from cleaning their rooms, to keeping house (an impossible task at most times), to any and every thing under the sun. For us mothers, this is a losing battle but one we will not give up as long as we have breath without a fight or two or three. The trick is to realise that this mother:daughter battle must be as old as time itself and that mums must be able to coax a hug every now and then, which like an elixir makes most things right as rain.

Aimee was a gorgeous baby (all mothers say that about those bundles of joy) and grew into an adorable young girl - but with very untidy habits (a Buddhist friend once said a long time ago that perhaps it was a way of expressing herself! Until today, I have not been able to decode any of her secret messages).

However, for as long as I can remember, there was hardly a night that I did not go into her room after returning from work (either the hotel or the newspaper) to sit by her little sleeping form, taking her hand in mine and kissing it. Her fingers were so adorable. That habit has since stopped because her bedroom door is now shut and I would have to knock before entering.

There are so many things I could wax lyrical about Aimee - her uncanny ability to find the most perfect gifts for anyone, her  big-heartedness, her many lovely ways - but suffice it to say that she is (apart from her joy of cooking) so not like me and for that I am glad.

With the passing years, she has grown into a young person with all the prerequisites of a great human being. If that means that I have done half a job as a good mother, well, well done Veronica (self-pat on the back). Truth is, I simply cannot accept much of the credit for how Aimee is shaping into this incredible woman; every person she has come into contact with has played a part in her development - and now, she is her own person... today, tomorrow and every day after that.

I am blessed.