Just. Breathe.

There's nothing quite like a love letter. My daddy used to write me little notes and I never knew how much they meant to me at the time. He had one specific phrase he'd use (no, I'm not going to say it -- it's cheesy and that's why I love it) and I'd get all embarrassed then...but now, the memory just warms my heart.  I realize now that it also made me know that he did the same thing for my mom even if I never saw them. I still have the one he wrote me when we found out we were going to have a baby (he suggested twins). When I traveled out of the country for work when my daughter was about six, I left a series of notes hidden around the house. I think she found them all before I got back and it made the time go much faster for her. And every first day of school warrants a note in her lunch bag. Even now, if I'm gone more than a night or two, I'll often leave a note on a mirror. But there's something different about a love letter -- the one that...

Yesterday was my sister's birthday. I actually mailed her card on time, at least if the Post Office is still working on Saturdays. I just wanted to let her know I'm glad she was born. She's older than me by seven years. That means for a very long time we had pretty much nothing in common. I was just the kid she had to keep an eye on when she was in middle school, and I talked too much (shocking, I know). I was in elementary school when she got married, and in junior high when she had her first child. [That was cool, though, because I got to be an aunt before all my friends.] By the time I graduated high school, she had three kids, a husband, a house...and I went off to college. At some point in college, that adage about age differences mattering less as you get older really became true. Her marriage ended and she moved back to our hometown, while I was the one away. Within a few years, I was married and a mom to two boys. She married a wonderful man exactly one month af...

I just watched a driver go around railroad crossing arms or bars or whatever those things are called. Full Discolosure #1 : I live in a suburb where the railroad tracks are one of the, if not THE, biggest pains for the residents of this area. I've been regularly delayed by 10 minutes, with my maximum trip time extended by over an hour due to the layout and lack of alternate routes to certain places. Going around the barricades is a huge temptation, especially when they are obviously malfunctioning. Full Disclosure #2 : I have a huge fear of trains, or, more accurately, being hit by one. In my first couple of years as a licensed driver, I remember only one set of tracks in my home town and I didn't have to cross them often. But I was plagued by recurring nightmares about them, convinced that this would be how I'd meet my Maker. I hate when those flashing red lights go off because even crossing the tracks BEFORE the bars come down sends me into a panic. So today, I wa...

One of my blogging friends does a Tuesday Ten list (waving furiously at Gini). That's not what this is, but I'm feeling pretty random, so here's a list of stuff for today. There is nothing better than watching people you love have their prayers answered. When those answered prayers are going to result in unbelievable blessings for a baby that doesn't even know it yet -- well, that's just the icing on the cake. My mother cracks me up. She never fails to share some miscellaneous piece of information she heard or saw or got on email that is just hysterical. Here's a sample: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFWA1A9XFi8 . I'm not political. I won't suddenly become political just because of the news about Bin Laden. I will say I've got a little bit of "the devil you know" anxiety going on. What will al Qaeda feel driven to do to prove they're still a force? Our country has not done and can never do enough to say thank you to the men and wom...

I was thinking the other day about catching up with old friends, say ones you haven't really talked to in 10 years or more. With Facebook, it probably happens a lot more than it used to. How do you decide what's worth sharing from your life, when minutiae is not really the point? So I started thinking of a top 10 list of those things that really define my life. Those things that, if Oprah asked me why I am the way I am, I wouldn't hesitate to list as the biggest influences on my life in the last 15 years or so. Some are obvious, I think...and I'll bet this list will change over time. But right now: 6. Changing jobs in 2005 5. Going to India in 2002 4. Deciding to go back to church in 1998 3. Reagann's birth in 1995 2. Daddy's death in 1999 1. Zac's death in 2002 Hm. Now that I actually write them down I can only come up with 6 real ones. That's something to think about. What will I add in the next 10 years? What will come off this list? Wha...