Birthday

My daughter Susanne's 22nd birthday today which she celebrated quietly at home with a few friends. Unfortunately this is all she would allow me to photograph. Susie is a quiet, shy woman who doesn't speak much and very quietly when she does. Susie can't shout and her normal speaking voice is much quieter than average. This is a legacy of internal scaring from extensive use of gavage tubes when she was a baby. Susanne spent her first 15 weeks in intensive care and was given a less than 5% chance of survival. She proved to be a strong fighter. Her triplet sisters couldn't hang on.
Shareen (named after Susanne's Grandmother's still born daughter) lived for 2 days and Elizabeth (named after my Grandmother) gave it her best for several days before she died peacefully in my arms.

This makes the 20th May a day of mixed emotions and memories, but always very special.