{"id":342,"date":"2008-11-11T03:23:25","date_gmt":"2008-11-11T10:23:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/silenceoftheclams.com\/blog\/archives\/342"},"modified":"2008-11-12T01:44:03","modified_gmt":"2008-11-12T08:44:03","slug":"ashley-rae-of-sunshine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/silenceoftheclams.com\/blog\/2008\/11\/ashley-rae-of-sunshine\/","title":{"rendered":"Ashley Rae of Sunshine"},"content":{"rendered":"

Happy Birthday, Ashley Rae! <\/em><\/h4>\n

\"Happy<\/p>\n

\"Ashley26 years ago today, the light of my life was born.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 From the very beginning, Ashley had a sunny personality<\/em>, spreading joy wherever she went – and her quickly earned her nickname “Ashley Rae of Sunshine<\/em>.”\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

She sucked her thumb, which was far more convenient thank a binkie which can get lost in the middle of the night, and stopped on her own.\u00c2\u00a0 She slept 7 hours a night even as an infant.\u00c2\u00a0 Such an easy child.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 She was also bald as a cue ball <\/em>until almost 2 years old – when her beautiful blonde hair came in thick and full of body.\u00c2\u00a0 And no obnoxious waves like her mother has.<\/p>\n

\"Serious(Don’t you think she looks like her daughter Kennedy did at this age?)<\/em><\/p>\n

She did give me grief a few times as a child. Twice, she got hold of a pair of scissors and cut her bangs off <\/em>right to her scalp. I’m afraid I\u00c2\u00a0didn’t react very well.<\/p>\n

Another time, when she was around four, she had been playing in her room and I went in to check on her. She was no where to be found<\/em>. If you’re a parent who has ever throught their child was missing, you’ll understand how panicked I felt. I was frantic – called to her and searched the whole house – no response.<\/p>\n

\"AshleyI ran outside and enlisted the help of some neighbors who helped search the streets.<\/p>\n

About an hour later, when I was about to call the police, I went into her room again and decided to search the closet again. I had looked before, but hadn’t taken everything out of the closet. I moved a little pile of stuffed animals and\u00c2\u00a0found Ashley sound asleep <\/em>under a little pile of clothes.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"AshleyAshley has always been beautiful, inside and out. On more than one occasion, I was stopped in a mall by total strangers asking if Ashley was a child model – or suggesting that she get an agent.<\/p>\n

And she’s always been smart<\/em>…. she taught herself to read words before she even entered kindergarten and got good grades all through school.\u00c2\u00a0 She is trained as an ASL interpreter, but is currently working at a law firm as a case administator (and they love her.)<\/p>\n

(I’m her mom, I’m allowed to brag!)<\/em><\/p>\n

\"CoverAshley has always been very social and friendly.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 When she was 5 or 6, we moved into one of the first homes in a new neighborhood.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 As other homes were finished and new people moved in, I’d introduce myself and find out the new neighbors already knew who I was as Ashley had beat me to it.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 She would take it upon herself to go knock on their doors and say, “Hi, my name is Ashley. I live over there. What’s your name?”<\/em>\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0The neighborhood welcome wagon…<\/p>\n

\"AgeAshley always loved to sing – but really blossomed at a 4th grade assembly. As part of the presentation the presenters asked a bunch of students to come up on the “magic carpet” and sing “A Whole New World<\/em>” with them. Ashley raised her hand and joined about 20 students, singing as woman held the micorphone up\u00c2\u00a0to each student for a moment so they could be heard through the speaker.<\/p>\n

Afterwards, the woman said,\u00c2\u00a0“As I was going around, I found one girl who I’d like to ask if she’d be willing to sing the song for all of you because she has such a beautiful voice.”<\/em>\u00c2\u00a0 Yes, it was Ashley<\/em>. I’m sure she was scared, as she’d never done anything like that before. But she did it. The woman handed Ashley the microphone, and kept her arm around her while she sang “A Whole New World,” all alone.<\/p>\n

What a fabulous gift that woman gave to Ashley – and to the rest of us, since Ashley gained enormous confidence in her singing abilities from that experience.<\/p>\n

\"CrazyAshley went on to perform in featured\/leading roles in musicals through Jr. and High School – the (shared) role of narrator in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat<\/em>, a featured singer in Alta’s Dinner Theatre – and the lead role of Polly in Crazy For You<\/em>. She even auditioned for American Idol – TWICE! Talk about brave <\/p>\n

\"AshleyAshley is such a thoughtful person. I have a drawer full of sweet notes, cards and letters <\/em>she has sent over the years. Last year I received a surprise bouquet of gorgeous lillies for no special occasion – “just because.” I frequently hear from others how surprised and delighted they were to receive a personal thank you note <\/em>from Ashley after giving a gift.<\/p>\n

And she’s a very loving and accepting person who accepts and supports people as they are<\/em>, and has friends of many political\/religious\/social persuasions.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 She doesn’t have a mean spirited bone in her body and never feels the need to prove herself right (even when she is).\u00c2\u00a0 She’s perfectly content to accept that you may have a different view than she does.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"AshleyAshley is goofy and a total goon <\/em>(like her brother), so fun to be around\u00c2\u00a0– and yet sophisticated and mature when the need arises.\u00c2\u00a0 She is also very adaptable<\/em>, having been through more life changes and moves than most people her age. She just takes it all in stride and finds a home and friends wherever she finds herself.<\/p>\n

Ashley is a great wife to Justin, and is also the best mom I know<\/em>. I see her with Kennedy and am at amazed at her patience, consistency and calm reactions to the outbursts of a 4 year old. I have never heard seen or heard her lose her temper – not once.<\/p>\n

\"Ashley<\/p>\n

A lot of mom’s have great daughters.<\/p>\n

It’s true.<\/p>\n

But I don’t know how many of them get to call their daughter a dear and best friend<\/em>.\u00c2\u00a0 I’m so lucky. \u00c2\u00a0She continues to bring me joy and light up my life. Thanks for being YOU Ashley Rae…<\/p>\n

Happy birthday, baby!<\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Happy Birthday, Ashley Rae! 26 years ago today, the light of my life was born.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 From the very beginning, Ashley had a sunny personality, spreading joy wherever she went – and her quickly earned her nickname “Ashley Rae of Sunshine.”\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 She sucked her thumb, which was far more convenient thank a binkie which can get … Continue reading Ashley Rae of Sunshine<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-familyfriends","category-reminiscing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/silenceoftheclams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/silenceoftheclams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/silenceoftheclams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/silenceoftheclams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/silenceoftheclams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=342"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/silenceoftheclams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/silenceoftheclams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/silenceoftheclams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/silenceoftheclams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}