You Make the Best of What's Still Around

Coadster getting ready to beat the pinata on her 5th birthday.

My labor with Coadster began in earnest about twenty minutes after I started watching House Party II. Even if I hadn't been pregnant, I would probably have had to go to the ER after watching two hours of Kid 'n' Play.

At this time fifteen years ago, I had already been in labor with Coadster for almost twenty-four hours and I still had at least ten more to go. If I had been paying attention, I would've been prepared for how stubborn she is, but I was too busy begging for drugs at the time. My Coadster birthday tribute post from last year is here.

Here are me and the girls being big dorks at Christmas one year. Obviously, I had a bad cold and that's why my nose was so red, so don't even try to give me shit about it.

I can tell you exactly where she gets her stubborn streak, (I'm looking in the mirror right now) but a lot of her other traits are almost the opposite of mine. Luckily, we've always meshed very well. She's much better now, but when she was younger, she had a tendency to get upset when things in her world weren't exactly as she thought they should be. I'm more laid back about everything. She's good at helping me to get my shit taken care of better, and I'm good at helping her relax and keeping her from getting quite so fatalistic when one or two things don't go the way she planned.

Me and Coadster in the Badlands on my 40th birthday trip.

She also somehow developed a sense of direction. Where she got it? I don't know, but if it weren't for her, we'd probably still be driving around and around the Black Hills looking for our cabin.

So, Happy Birthday Coadster! I don't know what I'd do without you. Oh, wait. Yes, I do. I'd be wandering around lost and forgetting to pay my bills on time.