Standing at the Trailhead of Winter

Today is Murphy's birthday. He is all of two years old. For the past two years I've had more than my fair share of laughs, all because of this little bundle of energy. I am a very lucky dog mom. To start our day, we trekked to Mello-Creme donuts to get Murphy a birthday donut for breakfast. He enjoyed an apple fritter and a plain old-fashioned donut. Of the two, the plain old-fashioned was his favorite, and I know this because he would take a bite of the apple fritter then put it down. He would then give me that look of "you're trying to give me something with fruit in it." After a few long seconds, he would turn and walk away. As soon as I offered a bite of the plain old-fashioned, he was right there and made no hesitation whatsoever. The entire donut disappeared in seconds. Most of the apple fritter is still in his food bowl. This afternoon we went for a hike along the creek and found the pond we spotted a couple of days ago on our hike across the bare soybean f...

 

 

Well, January was fun! If the rest of the year goes along as January did, I'll not be sad. Monday my youngest turned 19. While memories of the day he was born have blurred around the edges, I still remember being in the delivery room, way beyond ready to give birth to the little guy who was nearly two weeks overdue, and feeling incredible relief once the ordeal ended. This guy came into the world at ten pounds nine ounces. A big boy. My doctor had estimated him in the nine pound range before all the action began, so I decided to go with a natural childbirth since I'd delivered Funny Delightful Son naturally, and he'd weighed in at just over nine pounds. I figured I could do it again. I did, but it wasn't fun by any stretch of the imagination. Thankfully, all turned out just fine, and that big boy is now a tall, lanky young man who can't get enough to eat. The four of us went out to eat for Angel Baby's birthday dinner. He absolutely hates going anywhere that...

My youngest is eleven today. When I realized I was pregnant with him, I went through the usual steps of seeing my OB and establishing the due date. His was on his sister's birthday, January 17. When January 17, 1999 came and went, I cried. I really wanted the two to share a birthday. Little One, though, decided he needed twelve more days before entering the world. The day he was born I had my weekly checkup with the OB. I had started dilating and I was feeling minor labor pains, nothing serious. My OB advised me to go ahead and check into the hospital since this baby was my third and the first two had come fairly quickly once the contractions had kicked in. I checked in around noon. Not long after, the contractions started, I dilated more, and the pain became excruciating. I was determined to do the birth naturally since I had with my second and survived just fine, but the longer the afternoon dragged on, the more I began thinking things weren't fine this time. My OB had assure...

On this date 18 years ago I gave birth to my first child. My life changed that day. All because of a her. For 18 years, I have had the honor of learning exactly what it means to love. She has been my teacher. I joke at times that the child I brought home from the hospital cannot possibly be mine as she is too beautiful, too smart, too compassionate, too everything to truly be mine. I am constantly in awe of her. Those who come to know her see what I see and tell my what a great job I've done raising her. I cannot take the credit. She is who she is and has always been what she is all on her own. I was just the lucky one who was entrusted with her care 18 years ago. Now, at 18, she is readying herself to go it alone after graduating from high school. She will attend college, though we are not sure where yet. She has been accepted into a couple of schools, but having always thought she would spend her first two years at the college where I teach since her tuition is free, I do not hav...