Dear Reader:

It is a benchmark moment when your oldest grandchild goes “double-digit.”

“No way…there is no way” you tell yourself… but there it is…Happy 10th Birthday Eva Cate! (Memories come flooding back to the night I got the call that this was it! The car had been packed for a month. I remember I was watching Dancing with the Stars waiting to hear the final vote on the winning couple when the call came in.)

Everything was moving fast…so fast that by the time I turned into John and Mandy’s neighborhood in West Ashley… I bumped into them pulling out…so I u-turned and followed them to the hospital. Everything continued to go fast… until it didn’t….poor little Eva Cate was stuck and couldn’t get out.

An emergency c-section followed…we should have known then that drama had entered our lives and life would never be the same again…only larger, more dramatic… and so much fun! 🙂

Eva Cate’s official birthday is tomorrow….April 27 but John and Mandy decided that yesterday, Saturday, would be the perfect day to celebrate…to keep it just in the family with her three cousins who have all been home-bound too since the virus hit. It would be a chance for the kids to finally see each other in person. A day to celebrate in many ways.

When I count my five blessings… extended to my life… that I had little hope at one time of ever seeing any born…much less growing up…my eyes fill with tears of joy and blessings far beyond anything I could ever have anticipated. (***And my 6 granddogs!) 🙂

There is nothing else in life I could wish for…except for my grandchildren’s lives being fulfilled with purpose, meaning, and joy.

These three attributes all of my grandchildren have given me….at six months Eva Cate participated in her first Race for the Cure…she has always supported her Boo Boo, along with all the other grandchildren who followed.

It was a shot of happy medicine…to see all my family including my grand-dogs. It is amazing how the children knew intuitively to stop and wave or high-five or just yell out “I love you”…it was all that was needed. They played in the pool all afternoon while I sat by the pool or on the porch just listening to the screams of laughter …music to my ears.

I think this birthday will stand out for all of us…a rare chance to gather and catch up on all our lives…the cousins were beside themselves getting to see someone else outside their siblings….

Anything Eloise’s big brothers do…she copies…no fear.

Eva Cate is turning 10, Rutledge is turning 7 and Eva Cate might have an inch of height on Rutledge…Rutledge is going to be a tall one like his daddy. Eva Cate picked out her birthday cupcake as soon as they arrived. I was so excited to see pizza…haven’t had any in probably six weeks! Missed it!

Pip…or little Pippy has made it into the finals for Lowcountry Dog Contest…he will get his professional photos made in the next two weeks…more details coming when we can all vote. He is a sweetie!

The water lilies are waning but still beautiful.

So until tomorrow…Last night my dreams were  filled with visions of loved ones surrounding me and everyone telling each other they love each other…”We can do this”…Everyone has been extra “good” and our reward was a few hours of open sunshine for everyone…and a celebration of life and continuity.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Every time I sit down to eat at a family gathering…I have three pairs of eyes staring intently into mine under the table….okay I admit it…I am a soft doggy grandmother…I always sneak a treat to them and they know it. A weak link! 🙂 But hey…I was their eating partner…socially distant from humans…just trying to be nice.

Michele took this photo and thought of me and my Clemson love attraction…the perfect colored combination….I pray every night that some kind of football season will take place if possible… a fall without football is a sad contemplation.

Thanks for the photo Michele and thinking of me! 🙂

So now back to my solitude chamber aka home…I will have to content myself caring for my ‘flower children’  longer and pray the future will unfold with a new world of unique and unforeseen possibilities.

Smile…