Life Changes

I was raised in a small suburb of Chicago.  Even though it was in the middle of all the suburban hub bub, it had a very small town feel.  There is  a homecoming parade which people come out to see.  There is a main street where there are picturesque antique shops.   The beach laps up to the shore just down the hill from main street.  I did not fully appreciate my small town while growing up there. I could not wait to get out and spread my wings and fly.  Now looking back I realize, in some ways I grew up in a Norman Rockwell painting.  Although I have no desire to ever move back there (winter there sucks) it was the perfect place to grow up. One of the fond memories I have is of memorial day.  There is a full out parade with the marching band, fire trucks, convertibles, etc.  We would try to make it every year.  I say try because the running joke in my family was, "We have to hurry, if we are late we will miss it."  It was true.  The parade was very short.  I loved th

In movie terms, a "meet cute" is when two people meet for the first time that are destined to become buddies.  (It is also when two people meet who are destined to become romantically linked.  Since this post is about cousins, we will ignore that point.)  Little Man and his cousin "Sweetie" met for the first time this past week.  It was an adorable meet cute.  Little Man knew that they were destined to be buddies.  Look at the joy on his face.  I could not catch the smile on Sweetie's face.  For the rest of the week when Little Man saw Sweetie he loved it.  Well, except for the times in the car when Sweetie was screaming.  To be fair she did not appreciate it when he was screaming either.  They are fair weather fans right now. Sweetie stole everyone's heart.  Main Man melts when he is around her.  She is one loved little girl.  I can't keep my hands off of her.  She is adorable and cute, rolled into one lovely gift from God.  It was weird to

An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind. Mahatma Gandhi One of my favorite quotes.  One, because it makes me laugh: and two, because it would be true. 2 months old  Daddy using him as a weight to build up Daddy's biceps My son has always had the most amazing eyes.  Since birth they have been talked about.  We hear all the time, "Boy look at those eyes."  "Where did he get those eyes?"  "His eyes are beautiful."  My canned responses are, "Yep, every night I pray they will stay like that."  "I know.  If he keeps those eyes for his entire life the girls will be after him like crazy."  "He got his eyes from God."  My responses are canned not because I am annoyed by these questions, but because I don't know what else to say.   His eyes change with his moods.  They go from being sky blue to steely grey.  Tonight I was going through pics and was just taken by his eyes.  I got to thinking