Last year Claire spent a semester in Vienna. When I was young I was an exchange student in Germany. It’s kind of fun to see her following many of the same paths I took at her age. We’re different in many ways — I’m an old fuddy duddy mom– and she’s cool and smart and stylish, but we seem to seek out the same kinds of opportunities.
I loved the beautiful card she painted for me on Mother’s Day this year, and the sentiment inside of it: 
Yes, I am seeing parts of me in her, more and more as she grows up and goes out into the world. We have our differences (she loves math and stats and calculus and hard things, she likes to clean her room, she moves really fast, and she multi-tasks about ten times more than I do), but we have our similarities too, as she mentioned in the card.
There are other ways we are alike: we don’t do make-up or primp, (we get ready for our day in 15 min or less, shower included), we like fabric, we write every single day in journals, we love photography, we organize and mobilize people, and we fill our plates very full. It’s pretty fun to watch our lives unfold, side by side.
And it’s fun to look back on the paths we’ve taken, from the time Claire was a little girl. A few days ago Claire had a very fun reunion with 2 childhood friends, Abby and Haley, who enjoyed a tea party in our back yard many years ago. These beautiful girls are grown up now. What adventures await them! What fun it is to watch the choices being made and think about what lies in our futures!