Dan! (My Sacred Life, Sunday)

My marvelously fun daughter, Wendy-Anne, is my focus for this My Sacred Life post. Wendy-Anne was named for two dear relatives of her mother. Both are wonderful, powerful, loving women who serve as perfect role models for all my daughters, and I was happy to add my support when her mother wanted to name Wendy-Anne to honor them. Sadly, one of them has passed away, and Anne is sorely missed by all who love her.

Wendy-Anne's younger sister had a tough time learning to say her name, so she would call her, "Dan." Since I am a baseball fan and of an age to remember Stan Musial, I took to calling her "Dan the man" (odd, I know).

Now that she is a gorgeous senior in high school, it's back to just "Dan."

Wendy-Anne has always brought such amazing intensity to life. When she was little, if something did not go her way, I swear she could furrow her brow to the point that you could no longer see her eyes. It was as if the biggest, darkest cloud had suddenly rolled into the room. And, she could slam a bedroom door louder than any other person under four feet tall could.

She is more easy-going these days, but she still has an intense nature which I love. She and I can get goofy in a matter of seconds, and she is always ready to go wherever our goofiness takes us. And, there is no telling where that might be.

(her CU-sophomore sister and Dan goofing in the CU bookstore ===>)

During the summer of 2006, Dan spent most of her time outside of Paris, living with a family whose father, as a young college student, had visited us in Denver. She spent her weekdays, when the family was busy with work and school, taking the train into Paris and simply wandering around. It was a great time for her, and it perfectly illustrates how fearless she is in such circumstances. She is too busy living to waste time being afraid of living! What I found ironic was that her favorite place to eat as she made those sojourns into Paris was a Greek cafe.

Julia and Wendy-Anne have a long and colorful history of getting lost in the car. They decided to call it "going on an adventure" since it was never completely clear where they might end up. Now that Wendy-Anne has been driving for over a year, those days may be over. The recollections, though, will be with us for a very long time.

I'm sure Wendy-Anne will appreciate the fact that I used the photo taken of her at a Barack Obama appearance in Denver earlier this year as my lead photo in this post. She actually refers to him as "FUTURE PRESIDENT :] Barack Obama" (caps and special characters, hers).

Just as with her older sisters, it has been an awe-creating time, seeing her blossom from stick-like 14-year-old into the young woman she is today. She has such grace and natural beauty. Somehow, that blossoming is just as amazing with each of my daughters, and I'm fully prepared to be in awe again when her younger sister completes her maturation in a year or two.

It's too early to know where her life will head, but I know Wendy-Anne will bring all she has to the game, and there will be no holding back!

Wendy-Anne Hamrick, in my Sacred Life Sunday spotlight today.