My driven daughter

I've always thought the funniest trick God plays on us is making each one of our kids so different. I'm not a gambler but having kids is sure like it, just a roll of the dice. Although my girls have similarities between them, for the most part, they are really different, both in looks and in everything else. They are all smart, talented and caring individuals but I love the traits that make them unique and individual, and although some of those traits can drive me batty, I appreciate who they are.

The older they get, the more their true selves are revealed. For instance, my middle daughter, the 10- year-old has always been independent and determined since she was a baby. She's always been a thinker, strategically planning out how to get what she wanted or where she wanted, and she's ALWAYS been competitive.

Her competitiveness has been fun to watch evolve over the years. She was determined to walk, determined to eat by herself and determined to beat her older sister at whatever she could, or at least keep up. I still remember the day when she was about 4-years-old, she finally beat her sister in a race around the house, a race that she'd lost many times but one day was finally fast enough. She always wants to win and always wants to be the best.

She's mad when she loses or doesn't do very good at something, and if she's not perfect at it, then she'd rather not even do it. Sometimes it just cracks us up at her drive to succeed. The other morning she showed me her accordion file folder for school. In it, she designated with a tab, a special 100 percent section for all the papers she gets 100 percent on. Of course it was already filling up and she rifled through it with a smile on her face like it was 100 dollar bills. Her older sister just rolled her eyes with disgust.

A month ago we were driving by the high school track and as she gazed out the window at it, she said to me, "I'm gonna win a lot of races on there, Mom." See what I mean? Competitive to the bone! She doesn't want her sports seasons to end and she looks forward to the possibility of acquiring more medals and trophies. She knows exactly how many medals her old sister has hanging in her room (which her sister doesn't have a clue how many), and it'd be her dream to have that many or more.

And speaking of track meets, all of the sudden she's fascinated with breaking records. She asked a few weeks ago what all those names were on the walls in the school and we explained about setting records. Now she's obsessed with breaking records someday. She wants her name on that board.

Recently, Daddy took her out to shoot for the very first time, and try out her new gun. She stepped up and shot her first 8 shots all within 8 inches of each other at 80 yards like it was nothing. Daddy was expecting to be there awhile and help her and walk her through it all, but stood there with his mouth hanging open as she shot like a pro. So much for being nervous or shaking. Git 'er done, Quigley!

She's a hoot! And so much different than her sisters. It's always fun to see what she'll say or what she'll do, but it will probably have something to do with competing.