Absorbed In her head it’s pleasant. She barrels through life, absorbed in the fancies of her mind. The rest of us are spectators. There’s a charm to it. Sometimes it makes you mad, positively batty. But then you watch her, floating in the whispers of her whims, and it’s all you can do but sigh and chuckle and relish.

Sometimes I think she has multiple personalities. She’s fodder for a potential after school special (how I loved those when I was 13). She actually walked up to me today and told me that she wasn’t Jordan. She was Jordansina. I nodded, looked wary, and attempted a smile. – How are you, Jordan’s daddy? (she actually called me that) – I’m ok … Jordansina. Where is Jordan? – Oh, she’s cleaning her room.

Jordan Stylin She goes in for MRI today. I won’t be able to be there with her, but she told me not to worry. We’re all hoping for more good news.

Jordan decked out for her birthday celebration When I arrived, she stood in the center of the living room, fully dressed and ready to go. She had been waiting for me. Birthday dinners out are a sacred tradition in our house. The celebrant can select any restaurant they fancy. Jordan’s first choice was sushi, but … a girl on chemo can’t take too many chances, so we talked her out of it.

It’s hard to believe. A decade. She’s bigger than life and has been from the day she first thrilled the air with the electricity of her hearty cry. I still remember that day, and the way her perfect face stared back at me in the white light of the delivery room. My little girl will be ten on Wednesday. Her decennial achievement is all the more special because of what she has achieved in that time.