Look at my girl!  I don’t care; she was the most beautiful baby I have ever seen!  I believe I may have mentioned (shamelessly bragged) before she got a perfect 10 on her APGAR test in the hospital.  Oh WHERE did the time go?!  I remember being terrified of bathing her because she was so little.  She has always loved the water just as her namesake would suggest.  (In Latin Maris means “of the sea.”)  My husband and I loved her paw shaped birthmark (“stork bite”) which, ironically, she got about a week and a half after she was born.  We reluctantly had it removed when she was about 2 1/2.  Surprisingly, it was never remarks from other children; it was always adults making the comments.  For a long time I used her Godmother’s sweet reply that the angels had kissed her.  But it became harder and harder to ignore as she grew more aware.  The defining moment for me was an adult pointing straight at her face and asking what had happened.  I will NEVER forget her lifting her tiny hand up to her face and wondering why she was being pointed at.  Burk strongly felt we should have it removed because he didn’t want her to feel self conscious.  Now, two years later, she is upset with me for removing her “special wolf paw mark.”  Everyone who knew us was freaked out that it looked like she was touched on the cheek with a perfect wolf paw print.  My Daddy used to say hindsight is 20/20.  I can only pray she will not regret the decision we made in her stead forever.  American author Bret Harte once wrote:  “Never a lip is curved with pain that can’t be kissed into smiles again.”  I kissed that mark a thousand times.  I loved it; it was a part of her.  It belonged to her.  God gave it to her.  And at the tender age of three she started expressing her upset that her mark got removed.  It took two laser surgeries to have it removed.  I pray that I can kiss her lips into a smile again, and that she will not always regret the decision we labored over on her behalf.  And, for the record my darling, I do believe you were kissed not only by the heavenly angels but by the wolves as well.  I am proud of you for embracing it.