On the Eve of Her Tenth Birthday

My dear Maggie is turning TEN tomorrow.  Double digits is a big one in our house and instead of choosing a "friend" party, she went with the Kindle and pink case gift, like most of her brothers before her.  She is also very excited because turning ten means she gets to read the Harry Potter series that she's heard so much about from JP who has read every.single.book five times.  She has been planning her meals for about two weeks and finally decided on banana chocolate chip muffins for her class, pizza from a local joint for dinner, and ice cream sundaes with Gammy's homemade hot fudge for dessert.  She actually went around and polled her brothers to aid in her decision making.  It was a close one between pizza and tacos, so I am making her tacos tonight :)

Maggie is my holiest child so far, or at least the holiest outwardly (I think Eamon's interior life is a humble holy light).  She was St. Jacinta for All Saints Day this year, and upon reading her story (saints books are her favorite...see what I mean?) decided that she wanted to say the Rosary every day.  We are hit and miss with our family rosary as our lives get so busy in the evenings, but I do play it every morning in the car on our way to school.  Maggie reminds me to start the rosary as soon as she gets in the car so that she can hear as much of it as she can and constantly shushes her brothers when they talk and/or yells "Be quiet we are praying the Rosary!"  She's holy but feisty ;)  When she gets out of the car at school, she makes sure exactly which prayer she left off on to be able to continue it by herself.  If you try to talk to her while she's praying (unbeknownst to you) she will get frustrated and announce that she is trying to pray.  Again, that holy feisty personality.  She asks us all the time to take her to Confession, she loves going as often as possible, and she begs her "godsister" Haley to take her to Holy Hour where she can easily adore Christ in the Eucharist for 60 minutes.  At night she has a whole litany of prayers she has to say, and I can often find her doing somebody else's chore as a good deed for God.  Seriously, she puts me to shame with her piety game.

She's also a typical girl who can get very dramatic and sensitive and angry at times.  She's normal!  She desires a sister more than anything else in this world, and often uses it to excuse her behavior.   The girl puppy we gave her last year certainly helped a bit.  I always say girls are harder than boys, but when I see Maggie around other girls, I thank God that she's mine because she seems way easier than some of them!  Her heart and spunk are just adorable.  She is a dream student at school, in fact, her teacher had to cancel our parent/teacher meeting but assured us she had no concerns with Maggie anyway.  She is focused on her work and her only issue that I can see is that she rushes to get done first.  She's very competitive and wants justice in all things.  Even down to the number of carrot sticks everybody gets.  

She also has extremely strong opinions about her appearance.  Not in a vain way, more in a I-don't-want-to-be-uncomfortable way.  She detests anything slightly immodest (Mom, can you BELIEVE girls in my class want to wear bikinis?!?!  And I can never play volleyball because they like wear underwear for shorts!), will only wear her hair down or in a ponytail (been that way since she was a little peanut) and hates jeans unless they have a stretch waist.  She swims on the competitive team and I bought her a one piece swimsuit which she hates compared to her bathing shorts and rashguard combo she wears to the beach.  Then I bought her a swim cap to protect her pretty blond hair from turning green and she was in tears, but eventually wore it, apologized, and thanked me for it.  That's her M.O. - get upset initially  (she says it's the Irish in her), apologize, and then express gratitude.  I can relate ;)

She is passionate about what she loves and a loyal friend to all.  She is a little mommy to the younger boys.  She played in her first CYO Basketball game last night, and was amazing.  She scored twice during the game and was so aggressive where some of the sweet girls are so timid.  Having 6 brothers will teach you that, I suppose!  The game ended up tied at the end, and went into overtime.  The coach put Maggie back in, red-faced and spent, and she ended up with the only basket that won them the game!  I was so proud of her, and I think she gained a whole bunch of street cred from her three older brothers.  I love that she's tough in sports and I hope it will serve her well later in life as she begins to date.  Yuck.  The thought of that is scary!  If you ask her, she is going to be a nun anyway.  And a baker.  So I guess I shan't be worried ;)   She's a sweetheart who constantly leaves us love notes and drawings and is the first to make someone a birthday card or get well card.  Heart of pure gold, that one.

Maggie, I prayed for a daughter and God sent me the most wonderful little girl.  We covered our bases and got you an amazing Priest and Sister for your godparents, and their prayers have helped form you into a beautiful young lady.  We love you so much and can't wait to see what this next year brings.  Keep on keeping on, our feisty Irish saint-in-training.

{Also, the St. Andrew novena starts today - I know Maggie would want me to remind you of that!}