Today is a very special day because it is the birthday of the one (the only) Emma Grace Lafferre!
I was one month and one day shy of my 10th birthday when Emmie entered this world at 12:51 a.m. When Emma was born, Mamaw (who had come to stay with us), my other sister Erin and I were downstairs in the family room of our old house watching
The Mary Tyler Moore Show when we got the call Emma had been born.
I remember most everything about Emma's life since I was (um, am) so much older than she is. I helped my parents care for her, feed her, bathe her and entertain her. I often remember how she used to CRACK UP as a baby when I'd sit her in her high chair and attempt to throw Kix in the air and catch them in my mouth. When we'd sit around the table for dinner and someone said something funny, we'd all laugh, and even though Emma was too young to have any idea what we were laughing about, she laughed anyways. Which made everyone laugh harder.
She started learning to play the drums when she was only 5 years old, and she plays saxophone in the
Pride of West Virginia now. She is also a lovely singer and sings in the shower (even if she denies she does it!).
She is Queen Bee of being laid back -- truly I've never seen anything like it. If Emma gets mad at you, watch out, because you must have really blown it! She likes for people to get along, so she always helps out so that other people are happy. She has a big big big heart -- I think it kind of looks like the Grinch's heart did after it grew three sizes that day.
She is studying Parks, Recreation and Tourism because she wants to work for the National Parks Service. She decided that years ago when she fell in love with
Acadia National Park in Maine. I have no doubt she'll have a great career and do a wonderful job.
Some favorite stories about Emma:
- One day Emma came to me and Erin and said "I'm thinking about trying out for the school play." Erin and I were like "Okay. Great!" Emma was like "I mean yeah if I remember when the auditions are I might go." Anna and Erin: "................" Emma remembered when auditions were, went and was cast as a munchkin in
The Wizard of Oz. On opening night, she rolled out on a chair with a flowerpot on her head and it was one of the best moments of my life. She also sang a part with just two other girls. Proud. She went on to play the old woman/sorceress in
Beauty and the Beast the following year, and she also played a dinner plate in the "Be Our Guest" number. She couldn't high kick very high because of her costume. Again, one of the best moments of my life.
(edit: as Erin correctly reminded me, Emma, in fact, played a sugar bowl, not a dinner plate. Erin jogged my memory when she reminded me Emma played "white sugar" while her cute African American friend played "brown sugar." Those girls!)
- She once spent hours watching
Gone With the Wind. Everyone else had seen it already, so she watched it by herself over a period of like two nights I think. After it's over, Emma comes and finds us and has this absolutely defeated look on her face and is like "I CANNOT BELIEVE RHETT AND SCARLETT DID NOT END UP TOGETHER." We were like "Um, we thought that was just like a cultural thing everyone knew." She was devastated and will never watch it again.
- This cannot be written, since the humour comes in how it was said, but since Erin's reading this, I'll just go ahead and say, "Have you guys ever seen that movie? I think it's called Pat-ton?"
She is a very special person and it's so hard for me to believe she is 20 today. Sunrise, sunset.
Love you forever Emma!