Jenna Lee Smith

Today is my youngest granddaughter’s fifteenth birthday. Jenna Lee Smith is a delight. She is beautiful, precocious, fun and funny. I think fifteen is a tipping point for all of us. It is a time when adult awareness coats every decision, every infatuation and every heartache. It’s a time when bodies are trim and thin and in many ways approaching their peek of youthful expression. Bodies will change a little over the next few years, but for the most part, what you are at fifteen you will be at twenty-five.

The next ten years will be filled with sophisticated choices and complex learning. Discernment will become the denominator of adult decisions and the heart will be more involved with your mind than you ever thought possible. In fact, you will see them as two distinct powers within your being. Their dichotomy will often conflict and the choices will be either hard, stubborn or easy.

There is a truth my dear Jenna Lee that I believe and follow. If you follow your heart you will always be happy. You may not be rich; you may not be successful in the false way society sees success, but you will be happy. That is my wish for you today on your fifteenth birthday.