Rehearsal let out around 10. She opened her birthday gifts, which she loved! She had just a few minutes to chat before her shower; after her shower, she headed for her bedroom, the said "One more hug!" and came back and hugged me. I reminded her to dry her hair a bit more, and fetched her an armload of extra blankets. (The boiler issue? Not really fixed, and now we are heat-free. He's coming back tomorrow morning.) I piled blankets on blankets, she tunneled in; I started to dim her lights, and I paused.
And sang.
"Goodnight, sweetheart, well, it's time to go..."
(Elayna: "Ba badda ba bum")
"Goodnight, sweetheart, well, it's time to go..."
("Ba ba-da bum")
"I hate to leave you, but I really must say,"
Chorused: "Goodnight, sweetheart, goodnight."
I sang that to her every night of her life, right up through middle school when she decided that it might be uncool. I sang it to her the night she was born. When I was out of town, I called her to sing it to her over the phone.
So just spontaneously, tonight, her seventeenth birthday, I reminded her, and she sang with me. There is nothing more perfect than that moment... her realizing what I was doing, chiming in, and her megawatt grin after.
Good night, Elayna. Happy birthday. <3
