You are smart, lovely, funny, easily pleased, highly opinionated, heartbreakingly insecure, thoughtfully fashionable, hilariously disorganized, brutally honest, and a perfectly lovable future daughter-in-law.
Alia, we adore you. We are lucky to have had real time to get to know you, to see who it is- deeply, and truly-- that had our David walking on air, whistling at breakfast and grinning through dinner all that winter when you and he met.
And then you spent some time with us, disarming and charming and laughing your way into our hearts. Your laughter comes easily and often and it's what I remember best and love most-- hearing it from everywhere in the house- you laughing, David laughing, the two of you in delight of each other and of being young and in love and together.
I watched you work out compromise, stand up to each other and also back down- a dance you seemed to practice instinctively and well. I watched you be thoughtful to each other, and also not so thoughtful, and then thoughtful again. I noticed you seeing qualities in each other that you seemed to miss in yourselves, and I noticed you finding the best parts of each other to nurture.
I worried some, too, because you are both such strong and sometimes stubborn personalities-- but then you told David he was being insufferable that time, and he grinned (he actually grinned!) and so I stopped worrying. You can hold your own (and so can he).
As much as we miss having you here I have to also admit I don't miss the unending mess in the kitchen, the tripping over laptops and cell phones, or the mounds of laundry on the couch. It's your laughter I miss; it's you I miss (and David, too). It's seeing you convince Jim to put in the ceiling fan I've wanted for 10 years. It's listening to you and Addie (your future sister-in-law) talk science at the dinner table and being so grateful that you have each other and have both science and a love for travel and an appreciation of all things sparkly in common. (or maybe the sparkly things is me, not Addie). It's having you ask my opinion on something, or seeing you work the crossword with Jim, or hearing you admit you get a little selfish when you're tired (who doesn't?).
I hope it is apparent how much we appreciate the depth and scope of your place in our hearts.
Alia, you have wonderful parents who set a great example, and I like to think that Jim and I did a pretty fair job for David too- and I see in you both an ability to love and share and to work out conflict in ways that benefit you each individually and also as a couple. I see success in your future, and lots of love and happiness, and so much laughter.
So, David- thank you. Daddy and I, and Chris and Addie, are very glad to be welcoming Alia to our family, and we think you are a very lucky guy.
Alia, we adore you. We are lucky to have had real time to get to know you, to see who it is- deeply, and truly-- that had our David walking on air, whistling at breakfast and grinning through dinner all that winter when you and he met.
And then you spent some time with us, disarming and charming and laughing your way into our hearts. Your laughter comes easily and often and it's what I remember best and love most-- hearing it from everywhere in the house- you laughing, David laughing, the two of you in delight of each other and of being young and in love and together.
I watched you work out compromise, stand up to each other and also back down- a dance you seemed to practice instinctively and well. I watched you be thoughtful to each other, and also not so thoughtful, and then thoughtful again. I noticed you seeing qualities in each other that you seemed to miss in yourselves, and I noticed you finding the best parts of each other to nurture.
I worried some, too, because you are both such strong and sometimes stubborn personalities-- but then you told David he was being insufferable that time, and he grinned (he actually grinned!) and so I stopped worrying. You can hold your own (and so can he).
As much as we miss having you here I have to also admit I don't miss the unending mess in the kitchen, the tripping over laptops and cell phones, or the mounds of laundry on the couch. It's your laughter I miss; it's you I miss (and David, too). It's seeing you convince Jim to put in the ceiling fan I've wanted for 10 years. It's listening to you and Addie (your future sister-in-law) talk science at the dinner table and being so grateful that you have each other and have both science and a love for travel and an appreciation of all things sparkly in common. (or maybe the sparkly things is me, not Addie). It's having you ask my opinion on something, or seeing you work the crossword with Jim, or hearing you admit you get a little selfish when you're tired (who doesn't?).
I hope it is apparent how much we appreciate the depth and scope of your place in our hearts.
Alia, you have wonderful parents who set a great example, and I like to think that Jim and I did a pretty fair job for David too- and I see in you both an ability to love and share and to work out conflict in ways that benefit you each individually and also as a couple. I see success in your future, and lots of love and happiness, and so much laughter.
So, David- thank you. Daddy and I, and Chris and Addie, are very glad to be welcoming Alia to our family, and we think you are a very lucky guy.
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