In two days my only child turns twenty.
She has grown into an intelligent, caring and responsible young adult. She is passionate and caring. She loves dogs (especially German Shepherd Dogs). She is a talented artist.
It seems so fast. Twenty years ago on a cloudy and humid day, she came into our lives and I can't imagine life without her. She has done many things with me. I took her from a very young age to O'Neill Regional Park and she has "volunteered" with me from that first day. "Volunteered" because when she was very young, well, she rode on my back and just smiled at everyone.
Acorn Day at O'Neill Regional Park October 1997, I was a Ranger Reserve and I made her a matching Uniform.
For her first birthday, a Ranger at O'Neill, Sara Girard (yep, she's where part of why Sara is Sara) took this picture and wrote a special article.
Sara and our dog Romeo (we adopted him when they both were about four years old) were very close.
So, last November when we had to say good-bye to our nineteen year old dog, it was especially difficult for her.
Hard to believe they are the same kid and dog!
We joined Girl Scouts, discovered Geocaching and lots and lots of time in Nature together. We shared Geocaching with Dad/Husband and spent many hours in Lake Tahoe, another love of Sara's searching for hidden containers.
Once, while we were Geocaching in Tahoe near the place we often stayed, A thunder storm rolled overhead. We decided to end the hike and get back indoors. She's holding a Travel Bug - a special item sometimes found in larger Geocache containers - The travel bug is a stuffed skunk we found in 2006 and she is named Sammy the Skunk. Sara fell in love with her so we asked the owner if she could adopt Sammy, thankfully Tommy Trojan said yes but made Sara promise to always take care of her.
Twenty years has gone so fast but, also slow at times. Happy Birthday, Sara! I love you more than you can know.
