I am reprinting this story from last year about my niece, The Underwater Ballerina, who turns 23 today, the same day as Ducky. Happy Birthday UB.

Yup. The Underwater Ballerina, who at four was the flower girl at our wedding, turned 22 yesterday. And she’s a gorgeous, accomplished, and talented young woman. Interestingly, she has the same birthday as Ducky (my sister’s daughter).

The Underwater Ballerina just graduated from college and she’s gonna be a marine biologist; we always knew whatever she did, she’d be a success. She was the most adorable four-year-old on our wedding day in July 1989.

And she took her job very seriously. Our floral designer gave her a white basket full of white rose petals and told her to throw the petals up in the air with abandon. She even demonstrated.

The Underwater Ballerina walked down the aisle (while my opera singer friend sang Schumann accompanied by her pianist husband) and threw the white petals up in the air with great enthusiasm just like the flower lady had told her to do.

The crowd went wild—they loved it. And maybe they laughed, too. But our little flower girl thought she’d done something wrong and she cried and cried. She cried through the ceremony until her mother felt compelled to take her out. I remember trying to listen to the rabbi while listening to our flower girl cry.

I think she still has that white basket with the dried white petals in it; a reminder of that big day.

She cheered up later and we have pictures of her dancing with relatives and having great fun during the reception. But there are a few shots of her sad, sad face during the ceremony. We tried to explain to her that the guests were laughing with her not at her. But that’s a hard concept to explain to a four year old (even a super, super smart one like she was).

I wonder if she still has that basket in her childhood bedroom. I remember seeing it once on a high shelf.

But she’s on to bigger things now. The Underwater Ballerina is a marine scientist, who is compassionate and smart with a great sense of humor and leadership qualities up the wazoo. We always knew whatever she did she’d be a great success. And we were right