Thursday, January 11, 2007

My Girls: Emma


Let's see. When she was younger we called her Emma the Dilemma (that name was even painted on her bright yellow soapbox derby car....in which she placed 3rd!). Lots of her friends call her Mema. Quite a few old people have called her Emmer. Other people mistakenly call her Emily. But to us, she is our lovely middle child, Emma Catherine.

What's in a name? Her first name, Emma, means "nurse". And Emma has proven to be a loving, sweet, caring person. She was named Catherine for co-founder of the Salvation Army and Preacher Catherine Booth. Though Emma is not as outgoing and bold as her namesake, she is a firmly committed and determined woman.

She's a beauty. An Audrey Hepburn look-alike. She has style, poise and exotic dark features. She's fun (and funny). Everyone loves being with Emma. As a young chiild, an extremely young child, she played practical jokes: pretending to be asleep when she was about 18 months old; hiding and jumping out and scaring her father when she was in kindergarten; and the most incredible, notorious joke: when she was about 3 she pushed straight pens down into my stick deodarant!

Emma is talented. She has a beautiful voice (a great ear for alto, a family characteristic!), and she's a great dancer (a talent she did NOT inherit from me).

Some of my fondest memories of times with Emma are of us snuggled up together in the chair, eating Doritos and watching old movies (especially Doris Day-Rock Hudson, or anything with Cary Grant!).

It seems amazing to me that my tiny, loving, dear little girl (with perfect hair!) is all grown up! But she is quite a young woman; studying nursing, working with developmentally challenged adults, managing her academic, family and social life and still managing to look like a movie star!

Emma is a gift of God to me!

4 comments:

Hope Butcher said...

She and I are sooo different but as we have grown up we've become more alike, interesting. She IS a beautiful person. She has grown from that hillarious little girl to an amazing young woman!

Amy said...

ok, she is breathtaking...just like her mama. Great new picture of you!
I remember when she had that picture made when she was little. I guess that means that I am getting old!

Robb said...

and some call her memer from faulty hearing of the real terms of endearment,

Robb said...

I apologize for the hanging comma on that previous comment