How would Mary have celebrated her 17th birthday today? Well, I don’t know for sure. But I know that she would have enjoyed making her own homemade pizza with us tonight. (Or would she have chosen something else for her birthday meal?)

I know that she would have been glued to the TV or her computer watching the Olympics. She loved watching the 2012 Summer Olympics!

• Mary LOVED watching the Olympics!!!
• Guess who would be getting ready to watch the Olympics…(wish they were)

Mary would have played with her dog which she was going to get when we moved into our new house three summers ago.  She loved dogs!

Video of Mary with Django (October 2012, Warsaw Indiana):  https://www.facebook.com/464993830249803/videos/574678849281300/

Whatever she would have chosen to do on her special day, Mary would have made the most of it because “every day’s a holiday with Mary” and she knew how to live joyfully — when she wasn’t grumpy, that is.

I just discovered that the photos below were ones that Mary took on August 6, 2012 — the day she became a teenager and the last birthday she would ever celebrate:

I also just noticed from these photos from her camera that Mary gave her beloved Gertie a bath on her 13th birthday (the beloved stuffed toy given to her by AnnaLeah so many birthdays before).

Notice the photos Mary took that same day of  some of her favorite books (probably her birthday presents from AnnaLeah, whom I can’t ask to be sure) — including an American Girl one about a gymnast!

Mary had put 2012 Olympics gymnast Gabby Douglas’ December birthday on the 2013 calendar.

Mary would have held Oscar today.

A birthday post from Mary’s sister Rebekah

Mary’s dad shares a birthday post

Photo Album: Mary’s First Year of Life

Photo Album: Mistress Mary Quite Contrary by Susanna

Photo Album: Mary on Film by Susanna

I know that Mary would not have read my post from yesterday because I would have had no reason to post it:

New on the Market: Angel Wing Side Guard Solution To Prevent Truck Underride Deaths & Injuries

And Mary would not have checked to see how many people had signed the Traffic Safety Ombudsman Petition because I would not have launched it:

End Preventable Crash Fatalities: Appoint a National Traffic Safety Ombudsman

I would not have spent Mary’s birthday getting ready to post an Underride Roundtable Consensus as a Public Comment to NHTSA’s underride rulemaking at 11:59 p.m. on her birthday. (Link to it on the Federal Register)

And I most definitely would not have launched a new petition on Mary’s birthday to ask NHTSA to mandate SIDE GUARDS on trucks so people wouldn’t die from going underneath the sides of trucks:

Mandate Side Guards On Large Trucks To End Deadly Side Underride Crashes

Please sign & share these two petitions in memory of AnnaLeah and Mary, whom we miss more than we could ever say.