I still remember your 19th birthday. I planned an elaborate scavenger hunt around town - hiding clues under park benches and in library books. Remarkably, they were all still there when I sent you on that wild hunt. The maze led you to a fancy resort in the foothills. I was standing there in a […]
Four somehow snuck up on us. It's unbelievable, really. You're so grown-up now. Jumping high. Standing tall. Running fast. Being so perfectly, astoundingly, radiantly YOU. My solitary child. You love to play with dolls and read books all on your own. Of course, you also adore your sisters and cousins and grandparents. There's no doubt […]
9 months ago, you arrived in the world with pink cheeks and a voice. No one needed to give your bottom a gentle slap to get you to cry. Your lungs knew exactly what to do. Even with that kind of entrance, you've been the happiest of babies from day one. It's true that you […]
I walked down that aisle with no hesitation, no quivering of soul or lips. When the pastor presented us as Mr. and Mrs., I was overwhelmed with a deep-seated enduring joy. Not superficial happiness, mind you, but a serious sort of happiness in knowing that I was right where I should be. Tim Sheaffer was […]
On most days, Tim and I are ready to pack up and move to the mountains. We could be real ranchers. "I'd build a greenhouse," Tim says. "I'd sit outside in my nightgown," I say. Our kids could run without hearing us yell to watch for the driveways. Tim would hunt and fish and use […]
"Four seems like a good number," he says to me. Glass of wine on the edge of the coffee table. The three girls are asleep and we're getting ready to watch a television show on his laptop. I kick and scream inside. I'm done. D-O-N-E. But my verbal response is sincere too, "Yes. Four seems […]