Dear Reader:

A year ago today I left my house to spend New Year’s with John and Mandy so I would be there to keep Eva Cate when everyone returned to work the day after New Year’s… except for students who had an extra day of vacation. Little did I know when I left that Sunday that I would not return for almost a week.

I had stopped by Hutchinson Square on the way out because it looked so beautiful…all the trees lit with white lights. Eloise was due at any time and I had a strong feeling, leaving, that it was sooner than later. (Actually it would be later that evening!)

Cindy Ashley had sent me some quotes by Mary Oliver (a favorite poet) because she knew my Word of the Year has always been LISTEN (and still is for 2019) and this is a good quote to remember.

My thoughts went to my latest granddaughter about to be born…she would be breathing a lot in order to make her appearance in the world and I had a feeling she would always be bigger than life. She is….such a happy baby. Photos of Eloise when she was born and Eloise today….her first birthday! Happy Birthday Eloise…(I think Eloise already knows the answer to this other question by Mary Oliver…Eloise will live an adventuresome life!)

I ask you again: if you have not been enchanted by
this adventure-your life-what would do for you?

Walsh said it was the perfect ending to their family now….Rutledge arrived on Father’s Day, Lachlan on St. Patrick’s Day, and Eloise on New Year’s Eve. Already they are all part of life’s benchmark celebrations for everyone….happiness and joy.

On January 2 when Eloise was to leave the hospital the snowstorm hit the coast and what a beautiful storm it was….the boys were snowed in with us at John and Mandy’s home while Mollie and Eloise remained at the hospital.

Walsh would eventually be able to get the whole family home but it was a pretty terrifying drive…. once home, however, it was a memory for the ages…just like seeing my home again in such an unusual surrounding….snow!

What wonderful memories! And now here we are on New Year’s Eve 2018 and we have a chance of breaking a record for the warmest New Year’s Eve and Day in a long time….forecast – 78 degrees. Wow…unbelievable!

Cold and hot, up and down…life is never at a standstill….and like Mary Oliver pointed out…if we make our lives into great adventures we had better take a deep breath, breathe in, breathe out…and attack life with gusto.

So until tomorrow…Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “Life is either a daring adventure or it is nothing at all.”  Let’s make the most of 2019…keeping our eyes open for all the God Winks that surround us in our daily lives, keeping our ears open for God’s voice guiding us, and our hearts open to willingly follow the adventuresome path!

How time has flown Eloise! I can’t believe you are a year old today. What an exciting first year you have had and Boo Boo hopes that 2019 keeps her in good walking/running condition to keep up with you now…and a car to come see you more.

I love you Eloise….”Loved you yesterday, love you still, always have, always will.” Love, Boo

• 
• Walsh just sent this picture taken this morning on her official birthday…Walsh, Mollie, and family are joining friends in the mountains to bring in the New Year…so happy Eloise looks like she is over her little bug she had at Christmas time. Happy Birthday Eloise!