Gas Station Boudin

In the past week Mallory has:

• Farted in public.
• Taken it upon herself to make sure Otis is walked for at least 20 minutes every day.
• Attempted to self-examine her hearing in the middle of an eye exam.
• Passive-aggressively requested a baklava birthday cake.
• Made up a special dance for The Black Keys’ “Lonely Boy”.
• Helped me cook at least four or five meals.
• Loaned me three bucks for bus fare.
• Butchered about 128 geography facts, including asking if we could watch her new favorite show, “Coast Guard Alabama”.
• Clogged the basement toilet.
• Emptied the dishwasher every day.
• Shown tremendous improvement in her parent-teacher conference.
• Gone in the wrong direction during a critical part of Mass in which she was an altar server.
• Hugged me for taking her to little t after that Mass.

She is a brilliant mess one minute, a typicall pre-teen another, and we still have a moment or three most days when her unfortunate early life manifests itself again in some form of outburst or meltdown. But always—ALWAYS—she is full of love in her heart. She is sweet, thoughtful, caring, and so loving to those in her life. And she makes us laugh every day (no one makes Hannah laugh like her Bubba can). 

She is 11 years old today. She is a real and constant blessing to us all. 

Happy Birthday, Mallory.