In her honor (and because my book is due before the workday starts in New York tomorrow and I don't have the emotional ability to write something new), I am posting a list I made for her twelfth birthday to read at a sixth-grade class party. With a few contemporary comments.
Love you, Emma Cate!
Twelve Things You
Should Know About Emma
- Emma would rather read than eat. Or sleep. Or possibly even breathe.
- Emma
is the most enthusiastic writer I know. And I know a lot of writers. She’s
got motivation, she’s got persistence, she’s got a million ideas, and
she’s got a voice that’s all hers.
- Emma
will tell you that she’s lived in the same house her entire life. That is
not actually true. We didn’t move into our house in Saratoga Springs until
she was ten weeks old. So she’s lived here her entire life—minus ten
weeks. (UPDATE: now she has lived in Massachusetts for more than three years. So two houses, minus ten weeks.)
- Emma
embraces weirdness.
- Don’t
mess with Harry Potter around Emma. (UPDATE: Still true.)
- Or
Percy Jackson. (UPDATE: Or Maze Runner.)
- Or
Artemis Fowl. (UPDATE: Or Agents of Shield. Or Once upon a Time. Or about a dozen other things.)
- Every
summer for the last three years (WHICH MEANT 2008-2010), Emma has spent a week at Camp Hobe. No
doubt you’ve heard her talk about it. It’s one of the good things that
came out of her brother’s cancer . . . going to a camp where other kids
her age either have cancer or have a sibling that has. Plus, the cute cute
counselors don’t hurt.
- Last I
heard, Emma’s dream is to live in Portland when she grows up so she can go
to Powell’s bookstore often. (Yes, she is definitely my daughter.) She
also dreams of owning a multi-story restored building in which the first
floor is a bakery, the second and third floors are living quarters, and
the top floor is a writer’s retreat. (UPDATE: For Portland, read Europe. Not sure about the bakery, though she did make her own brownie cupcakes for her birthday.)
- Emma
is never, ever apathetic. She is fierce in her emotions. Sometimes that is fabulous . . . and sometimes her brothers run for cover.
- She has three brothers: Matt is a senior
in high school, Jake is a freshman, and Spencer is in Mrs. Zito’s class
down the hall. Emma used to ask when she would have a sister, but she
doesn’t anymore. She has learned to appreciate the wardrobe benefits of
being the only girl.
- Emma is our only daughter for one simple
reason: Because she’s the best there is. Opinionated and curious and passionate—a
believer in dreams and an idealist who wants to do something real in the
world. (STILL TRUE!)
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