Clare Elizabeth Pierson Miller was 12 years old when we came into one another’s lives. Little did I know that answering a personals ad would lead me not only to the man I would fall in love and share life with, but to this beautiful daughter I am now blessed to call one of my own. 

One of the first things I came see in Clare from the very beginning was her ability to weave together the threads of her life into a tapestry all her own. Outwardly this meant that she knew how to create a space for herself that brought order in the midst of any chaos, peace to her heart in the midst of whatever life brought her way, and beauty in the midst of her world wherever she found herself. Her gift of combining form and function results in a home, a wardrobe, and a life that is at once simple and elegant, practical and purposeful.  

When it comes to weaving together the inner fabric of her life, she’s had more practice than many. Given life by one set of parents, raised by another, and sheltered by yet more of us lucky enough to come into her life over the years, she has found a way to knit together both the love and the loss into a life that is authentic and wholehearted. The more she cares about you, the more she will both fight for you and fight with you, because of how much you matter to her.

She loves living large, but hates small things in big numbers, can shuffle and deal cards faster than the most experienced Vegas dealer, but is always the last one to shuffle to the car when it’s time to leave the house, and like me, knows for sure that she is right, especially when she is wrong. 

As a mom I never thought I’d give thanks for Tinder, but when she swiped right for Scott, did she ever get it right. They are a perfect match in the midst of their differences, and they are weaving together a life that will take them to the far corners of the earth and yet never far from home. Motherhood is one of her callings, and she is already perfecting the art of calling out the best in her young son, and calling him out when his one year old self tries to cry his way into some sort of silly shenanigans.

Her innate curiosity leads her way, and invites her to live on an always growing edge of what she knows and what she does not. If she had her own cooking show, which would of course be wildly successful, it might be called I Have No Idea What I’m Doing...Let’s cook. 

Her faith is her own. She knows who she is and what she stands for, and God help anyone who stands between her and those she loves. 

She calls me M2, and if we weren’t connected as family, I know we would have found our way to one another as dear friends. 

Many happy returns Daughter Clare.

Our world and my heart are better because of you.