Happy 15th Birthday, Matilda!

Dear Matilda,

Today you turn 15 years old! It’s hard to believe how fast you are growing up. Here are some things I’d like to remember about you when you turned 15 years old and some things you might like to know about your 15 year old self……

You are one of the coolest kids I know. You speak up for what you believe in. You don’t judge people. And you don’t care about being trendy or needing to fit in. You are 100% your authentic self and it’s amazing to see that at the young age of 15 years old.
You still play percussion in the high school band / marching band. You love all your band friends. You are also in the Music National Honor Society at school.
You love to sing. You were in the high school musical this year ‘The Drowsy Chaperone’ and loved it. You are currently taking private voice and acting lessons. I’m so excited to see where these lessons take you. You will continue to do choir next year in school and will also be part of the musical.
You have a lot of friends. You are sometimes just hanging with the guys, but you have a good group of girl friends as well. You make friends very easily even though you appear to be more quiet and introverted. Lots of people are drawn to you. You have so many young kids that look up to you and love you. I call them the ‘Matilda Jane Fan Club’.
You always have your airpods in and are listening to music. You and Daddy have started to bond over some bands that he loved growing up and you are introducing him to some current bands that you enjoy. Daddy picked out some band t-shirts for your birthday….Green Day, Rise Against and Nirvana.
You were part of the speech team this year at school and plan to do that again this next year. You competed in original oratory and impromptu but may do some different categories next year such as dramatic interpretation.
You are incredibly smart. You took AP European History this year as a freshman and are planning to take some dual credit courses as a sophomore.
You still love stuffed animals. You have a pig named ‘Potato’ and you got a weighted dinosaur from Grandma Jane and Pepo and you named it ‘Microwave’. Yep, you are definitely unique.
You do not like being wasteful. You only want the amount of shoes you need and refuse to buy anything new if you already have something that will work and isn’t worn out. It took the sole of your converse literally falling off the bottom of the shoes for you to let us buy you new ones.
You are having some friends over for sort of a birthday get together. You all are putting together funny power point presentations that you will present and then vote on who wins. I never had a power point party as a teen…..but again……you do you!
This year you’ve really developed your own sense of style. You like to wear really earthy colors. Think army green, browns, beige, tan and denim. You always look really cool. And you know what you like and what you don’t.
You still share a room with your sister and you really don’t like it. You wish you could have your own room and decorate it just the way you’d like and have your own space. I wish we had that space for you. I just really hope when you grow up that you and your sister will be really great roommates since you know what it’s like to share a room with someone that is your complete opposite.
You love Boba tea. You would much rather get that over Starbucks anyday!
You enjoy doing arts and crafts….making bracelets, painting, origami, making stuff with clay etc.
You love both of your dogs, Scarlett and Scotty. You love to lay on them and snuggle them on the couch.
Your favorite phrase is ‘I Don’t Know’. Even though you know what you like and are very confident in yourself, you say ‘I Don’t Know’ ALL. THE. TIME. I often wonder if you are just nervous to say what you really want so you default to that phrase? IDK.
You are very particular about what spoons you use so we got you your own set of spoons for your birthday. Just 3 spoons….a tiny one, a small one and a large one. They are yours and no one else can use them. (PS: that ‘s not all we got you for your birthday…..that wouldn’t be very nice)
One of your favorite things to eat is orange chicken from Panda Express. You also like cheeseburgers, pizza, chicken tenders, fries and lots of fruit. You and JoJo are still our most picky eaters. You’ll come around someday!
Your favorite movie is still “National Treasure”.
You are very helpful. You are always happy to help bring in groceries, carry suitcases to the car, water the plants and other things without any fuss.

Matilda Jane, I don’t know how we got so lucky to have such an incredibly unique, creative, smart and beautiful daughter like you, but I am so grateful you are ours. You teach me to see the world with a wider lens and show me what it means to be completely accepting of all people. You are one of the kindest souls and anyone that knows you, knows how lucky they are to have you in their life. You are truly a blessing.

Happy Birthday, my sweet girl!