February 20, 2011
Dear Baby Emily Michelle Brown,
Yes!! You are a girl, you have a name, and you weigh approximately nine ounces! I have now seen your ultra-sound pictures that show your arms, your legs, your head, and even your nose. (I think you look a lot like me!) Your pictures even show you making a big yawn! You are already amazing!
So, little girl Emily, it’s time for your grandmother to start thinking “pink.” Since I have never had to think “pink” before, I am wondering what to buy for you first. Hmm…I’m thinking a pink basketball! Since your mother is barely five feet tall, I suspect that you will not be tall either so probably you will have to be a point guard. That’s great! Your daddy played point guard and that is a very important position on the basketball court. Since the point guard is the player who is responsible for bringing the basketball down the court and directing the other players, she has to be really good at dribbling and controlling the ball. She is seldom the high scorer for the game, but she is the quarterback for the team and the team runs more smoothly when she is in the game.
When your daddy played, his number was #12. He was a good player. The players on the other team could not steal the ball from him because he was so quick. He could nearly always break a press and he could “read” the floor so well that his passes were like lasers to the places where his teammates were about to be just in time for them to score. (Those passes are called “assists.”) When he was a junior, he scored the winning basket in the semi-final district championship game against Middle Tennessee Christian School. Our team was behind by one point with about ten seconds left on the clock and MTCS was at the foul line. The shooter missed the foul shot; Andy Blackwell rebounded the ball, and passed it to your daddy who was all the way on the other end of the floor, just outside the three-point line. He caught the ball, squared up and shot….swish! just as the buzzer sounded and we had won the game. Fans from all over the gym swarmed to the court to celebrate with Forrest and your daddy. Forrest went on to win the district and the region…all the way to a sub-state game. This is an exciting story in your family and you will hear it many times!
In fact, Emily, your family has many exciting stories to share with you. But the most exciting story in our family right now is the story of the day your mommy and daddy called to say “IT’S A GIRL!” Wow! Think PINK!! AWESOME!
