22 is one more than 21
that big important birthday everyone gets all excited about
but you don’t even really like to drink
you’d rather make tea which you keep adding bags and more water to for hours
before heading off to bed
22 is 2 elevens
which is, you know
middle school
not anyone’s finest hour, but somehow you were still you
not still the quiet preschooler,
not yet the confident young woman
just sweet enough to get away with the snippy of early adolescence
22 is 11 twos
two they call terrible
but you were mostly just the
most adorable you could ever imagine
with those cute red stripes on your pajamas
and the curl of your hair
your voice figuring out all the words
and you already loving to draw and make playdoh creations
mostly with Granny
You did always want a banana as a bed time snack, which you wanted to peel yourself, but couldn’t.
“Nin nana!” You would demand. You called yourself Nin.
I guess I remember a few terrible tantrums about that. I used to try to sneak help you – digging my nail into the place right under the banana stem and praying you didn’t notice
You mostly noticed.
Like you noticed if I started to fall asleep reading about Charlie Mouse in the Richard Scary book we read every night.
“You made a mistake!” You’d laugh at me, and for some reason that became a demand for the book. You wanted me to make a mistake, or the book wasn’t worth reading anymore.
22 is 22 ones
when you were one you toddled around
nursed to sleep each night
probably waking up
a lot – remember you were a backwards sleeping baby
Slept through the night until 4 months or so, and then never again as a baby
you talked
somewhere I have a list of all the words you said at that age
”mo,” when you wanted more, and
at some point that year you started calling grapes “erdeps.”
“Nin, mo erdeps?”
22 is 1 twenty-two
Makes no sense
because you were just a baby
doing that baby elbow stretch
in your zip up pajamas
attached to me all day
and now you are this actual grown up
a friend
who makes me tea
and makes me proud
On a Thought 
This is a lovely poem filled with wonderful memories. I enjoyed reading your format. Enjoy time with your daughter.
Thank you so much. ❤️
I hope you share this w/ your daughter. Print it w/ some photos for each age and frame it. There will be tears. Kids grow up so fast. Your poem has me in all the feels, as the kids say. Happy Birthday and Happy Birth Day memories.
What a beautiful idea.
And one to get me to figure out where all the pictures are…
Whoa! Ona, here’s another way you and I are connected. I have a son turning 22 today! Imagine that. Your tribute is beautiful and moving. I love the way you take the ages and bring them together across the many versions of this wonderful human.
I started out trying to write a piece that covered time, but there are a couple of birthdays (last one in particular) I’m still trying to grapple with and make sense of. So while I wanted a post that ranged over the years, my fingers rebelled and gave me a birth story…
THANK YOU for this beautiful post: the look back over the young woman who doesn’t really drink anyway, the pre-teen just cute enough to get away with stuff, the toddler finding her voice, the baby who was just a baby yesterday.
Gorgeous.
Wow. Thank you for all of this. I love the picture of your fingers rebelling… it’s what happens sometimes! I think it’s hard to write a birthday slice because it’s you know, a whole person and there’s so much to say and also for me, my memory is not so great.
Can’t wait to read yours. Thanks again for this beautiful feedback.
this is a beautiful tribute and story through time. Your relationship is special 💕
❤️ thank you!
This is lovely! I can feel your love and pride for your child. I hope it’s a great birthday!
What a delightful way to look back through the years (numbers) of your daughter’s life! I had one who slept through the night at the beginning and then dropped the practice too!
You have such an ability to pick words and phrases that help the reader see & understand. Thank you for this today.
What alovely poem!!! I love numbers so especially appreciate how you played with numbers to recall all the various points in time of your daughter’s 22 years. Lovely writing!! Congrats on being a mom to a 22-yr old!! And happy end of school and summer!!