Morgan's Birthday

Morgan, my middle child, celebrated her fourth birthday last Wednesday, and we had a party for her yesterday. The past four years have been filled with so much activity, I feel as if Morgan has been with us forever. She is different from Lucas and Rhiannon in so many ways, and although she is quiet, she has become important to a lot of people for her uniqueness. She is demure, cuddly and often can jump from tears to giggles in nanoseconds. Her speech is not as eloquent as Rhiannon's at that age, so sometimes when she speaks, while her words may be somewhat rudimentary, they are surprising in their clarity. I think she had a good birthday. She had cute turkey shaped cupcakes to bring in to class, while the other students sang to her. One of her friends' mothers had thoughtfully brought in flowers for her, and she came home to a nice, albeit small, pile of presents. Her birthday party yesterday, however, was the opposite kind of celebration- overwhelming, busy and noisy. Those kinds of celebrations have always been Rhiannon's forte. She has always loved being surrounded by people, surrounded by bits of chaos. She relished in morgan's party, and delighted in helping her open gifts. Morgan, on the other hand, was overwhelmed and contented herself with quietly playing with Grandma, while the other kids raced around. If you saw a child like Morgan, your heart may break a little for her, because you would think she was without friends. But in fact, she is quite loved. She is like her father, in so many ways. She will always find her little niche in the world, and it will always be a quiet one, a soft one, a familiar one. I can picture her a poet, a chef, an artist....all jobs done magnificently when done alone. She will talk about the party for years to come, and she will treasure each of the gifts she got, because that who she is. She will never think of herself as being the girl alone on the playground, or alone in the crowd. Because to he