Daughters Take Us on Adventures in Life

Amanda's "Secret Garden" Wedding

Having daughters is absolutely one of the greatest pleasures in my life.

From the day both of my daughters were born I felt blessed with every heart beat. Watching them grow and become young women was an incredible adventure. Of course, there were times when they were more than a “handful” – but the wonderful times together far outweighed those days.

Now they are both married and have wonderful families of their own. Dana and Amanda are both unique and very different! It’s fun to watch how different they have become over the years, yet they are still similar in so many ways. Their caring, loving, adventuresome zest for life carries them in many different directions.

It’s hard to tell when they quit being just my daughters and became my best friends too. A slow evolution occurs with children and the friendships we forge with our daughters is special beyond description. I cannot imagine life without my girls because they constantly take me on new adventures in life.

And now Amanda is taking me with her on a new adventure.

Amanda was married in April 2011 and we had the most fun together planning her “Secret Garden” day (did you see the wedding pictures!). She seems to find 36 hours in every day and I’m not exactly sure how she does it. She holds down a full-time job, maintains an online shop for stationery and customized wedding collateral (Dawncorrespondence), and now has embarked on a new cooking adventure. She has an extremely supportive and loving husband who puts up with her every whim so that helps.

When Amanda told me that she was going to try cooking more adventurous foods and meals, I thought it would be short-lived. But it has definitely evolved into a passion for her. She has also begun to experiment with baking which she had done little of before. She’s choosing more fresh, natural ingredients and is becoming very well-versed in organic foods and ingredients.

Watching her grow into her own as a cook has been fun and educational for me too. We talk every evening about what she’s cooking and she asks me what I think she could do differently to make it more interesting. We brainstorm about recipes and laugh at our silly cooking habits. I look forward to her daily phone call and the excitement in her voice as she describes a new recipe she’s conjured up in her head while driving home from work, or when she tells me how she used the exact same recipe to make three different batches of cupcakes in the same day until they came out perfectly. Her new cooking journey has become a new adventure for me too.

Now she has turned her passion and love for cooking into a website – Leap of Taste. She bases her website name on the fact that learning to cook for her was “a leap of faith” that she could do it.  In years past, she could always cook but she never wanted to veer from the standard, easy to prepare meals. Now her leap of faith towards cooking is taking her on a culinary journey towards better health and a greater interest in healthy cooking and eating.

She’s even started writing for The Examiner as the Richmond Desserts Examiner because she has fallen in love with making cupcakes, granola snacks, cookies, and more.

I’m not sure how she finds so much time to work, blog on multiple websites, write for online magazines, try new recipes, and spend time with her family – but she does and she does it well. And it all appears effortless to her.

Yes – having girls who grew up to be young women who are my very best friends is one of my greatest joys in life.  And seeing how their lives have taken different paths of adventure, love, and experience is exciting because they are both such incredible women.

I would love to think I had a little something to do with that — but most of all, I want them to continue being and refining the unique individuals they are as we continue to navigate and enjoy life together.