One week after coming home from over a month in the hospital, Jordan is back to school today. She was very excited (as if you couldn’t tell from the photo).

The first text message buzzed my phone at 6:56am. I was at the office already, rewriting a chapter for my book. The message was from Jordan and it said, “JV.” This is her code she sometimes sends me when she wants me to call her, but it is just as often sent when she’s bored and wants to say hello. Because it was so early, I assumed it was the latter and sent back the word ‘love,’ as I often do.

It’s been a long week. I don’t even know where to start. Jordan is still at CHLA and doing pretty well. When I have more time, I want to share some great highlights from the week. There’s so much to share – like how she met a friend on the floor who has the same birthday, and they got along so well that they decided to share a room. Or, how she calls me at least once every day just to see how my day is going.

While it’s true that I like to write, I thought it would be better to tell you about Jordan’s 13th birthday in pictures. I’ll only write five words without a photo: she had a great day! Thank you to all who worked so hard to make the big teen transition a big event and a fabulous tea party. So many people to thank, but I want to call out a few.

She has been waiting for this day all year. To be technically accurate, she has been waiting for it for a couple years, telling people who asked her how old she was that she would soon be a teenager when she was just eleven. Jordan relates teen status as a magical transformation. In her mind, she joins an elite club today and she’s pretty excited about it. I will post updates from the festivities later, but right now I have a special request.