Happy 18th, Elena!

We somehow managed to raise a Boomer. Well, not exactly a Boomer, but Elena is basically an old lady in an 18-year-old body. I guess "Old Soul" sounds nicer, doesn't it? We'll go with that.

While she does stream music on apps like Spotify, she prefers using CDs in her car, which I'm pretty sure many of my students have never even heard of. And the CDs are mostly things like Hits from the 60s, Elvis and Frank Sinatra. When asked what she wanted for gifts, she requested DVDs (!) of black and white movies. We called her the night before her birthday and asked what she was doing with her last night of being a non-adult. She was watching Casablanca. Of course. She goes to 7:00 am Mass before school and adoration once a week (as do several of her friends, which is awesome.)

She's as likely to be hanging out with women between the ages of 40-90 as she is to be hanging out with other teenagers. She recently had to postpone an appointment to visit one of her friends because Kay had shingles. She even took an afternoon off of school about a month ago to join a woman from our church on a 2 hour drive she had to take. To a medical appointment. And she had a great time. I'm pretty sure this woman is the reason Elena & friends go to Mass every Thursday - she's an amazing woman. 

She just turned 18 this week and it dawned on me that she could now get social media apps like Instagram or Facebook. I asked if she was going to get any accounts, and she said, "No, not for now. They're all dumb." And then she went upstairs to sew herself a skirt. 

We love her in all her uniqueness and gifts so very much. It's been an absolute joy getting to raise her, and although we hate to see her move onto to a life that means we will see her less, we are looking forward to seeing what this spunky girl does with her life.