This beautiful young woman is my eldest daughter. 18 years ago I laboured to bring her into the world during an amazing thunderstorm. She was born at home, in an old farmhouse, with my midwife and my cat at my side, and was so beautiful she took my breath away--18 years later she still takes my breath away and has grown into an amazing young woman. In a few days she graduated high school and becomes a college freshman, off to study the fine arts at Dickinson in the far away land of Pennsylvania.I never get to see her anymore because she's busy living her own life, off at theatre performances, visiting friends in Burlington or locally, on dates with her beaux...unfortunately I won't even get to take her to dinner today, because she's got a dinner date with her boyfriend. That makes me a bit sad, but its her big day, so she can spend it as she chooses. :) She's officially an adult now...