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Ingrid can even make this monstrous prom dress look good, especially with the addition of vintage silver heels and by calling it her pink mermaid froth gown.

Ingrid at Viewridge Park in Seattle on her 3rd birthday.  Tonight we'll celebrate her 18th in Seattle--she's a Seattle girl at heart.

Right before we left Magnuson beach on Lake Washington last night, right before Ingrid emerged from the water, she lay down on the pebbles right at the shoreline for what she called a "cold stone massage."  Her eyes were closed and the wake was washing over her and she was, as always, reveling in the sensory input from the world.  Though Ingrid rarely gets from point A to point B very quickly,  I imagine that her journey is much more interesting everyone else's.  

Today she's 18.  Though she's been mature and independent for a long time, this milestone feels huge.  I want to mark it with a list of things I adore about her, and a little bragging.

1)  She notices EVERYTHING.  She can quote any line from any movie she's every scene, or describe the corner of a painting she's viewed only once.  I sometimes use her as my own personal google.

2)  She has the most amusing fashion sense.  On bad days when I don't want to get out of bed, I sometimes motivate myself by thinking that I'll get to see Ingy's outfit.  It may include chemistry goggles, wings, or tiger ears, or kitten heels, a bathing cap or a tiara.  You never know.  I love her fashion writing, too, which you can see at her blog Shaggy Jasmine.

3)  She makes me laugh.  Yesterday on the drive from Boise to Seattle she kept throwing out the most hilarious, incisive comments phrased with a poet's ear.  Did you know she raised a significant amount of money to go on school trips by selling custom written limericks outside of the Creamery, and sometimes door to door?

4)  The girl has guts.  As witnessed by this, and her work at Planned Parenthood, for which she has been vilified by some in our very conservative community.  She's not afraid to speak out and up, and she can usually win over her audience (if not to her point of view, at least they always end up loving her despite her point of view.)

5)  She always knows what she wants.  The famous family story goes like this:  Ingrid refused to wear pants or shorts of any kind as a 2-6 year old.  One time my mom was convinced she could get Ingrid to wear a skort, and purchased a cute pink one with little pink rosebuds.  Ingrid took one glance at it, lifted up the front flap revealing the shorts underneath and said, "These are formen."  Not even Grandma Wendy, her match in stubbornness, could prevail.  Ingy knew, when she heard about Bryn Mawr College at 13 years of age while watching Some Like it Hot, that she wanted to go there for school.  Guess where she's headed this August?

I could go on and on about this fascinating, wonderful creature who I'm lucky enough to call my daughter, but it would be in poor taste, so I'll stop.

Let me just say that Ingy makes my days ever so much better.