Dearest Florence – You Are Sixteen!
Dearest Florence,
Sixteen! How?! How has it been sixteen year’s since you were born?! That feels impossible. Both because I can’t remember, and couldn’t right away, what it was to not have you, but also, because it was just so close, it can’t possibly have been enough time to grow a sixteen year old?!
You are just the same now as you always have been, even then on that first day, in those first moments, the last twenty minutes of 2009 as we watched fireworks and snow, like a movie, in the sky from the room you were born in at Whipps Cross in Leytonstone. You strive to do the next thing, always with perfection, and I am in awe at how hard you work at absolutely everything, even the things you don’t like so much like chemistry.
You are as beautiful on the inside as you are the out, which says everything you need to k ow about Florence Mary Ladybird. You are brilliant and beyond in talent, in kindness, in drive. You are a fantastic friend, a wonderful big sister, and the most glorious daughter and grand daughter. At sixteen you make us even prouder – that felt impossible but here we are.
Happy birthday beautiful Florence, oh how we love loving you!
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