WORDS - WORDS - WORDS! (sorry Hamlet)

December 30, 2012

Dear Emily,

     Words, words, words.  Learning to walk is passé; in fact, you have just about mastered a waddling run when you are in a big hurry.  And most of the time you are.  No, now you are into words.  It seems like everyday you are able to repeat new words.  I’m not sure what your first word was.  You have been saying ‘Mama” and “Dadda” for months.  You have particular words that mean Simon and milk, but I can’t spell those words phonetically or any other way. You finally managed to say “BB” and I can’t get enough of hearing the sweet sound of that.  You know “Pap” too, but it usually sounds like “Yap.”  As special as those first words are, those words are not the ones that have inspired this letter.  That word is “more.”

     When you say “more,” you do not state it as a demand but as a request.  When you say more, it is a question, and your voice lilts upward at the end with anticipation.  “More?”  It is not a word that you use selectively…not just for more “Goldfish” or milk; not just for more turns at being tickled or jumping off the counter-top; but also for more “Itsy-Bitsy Spider” or watching the “wolf” video and for many, many other things that  gladden your beautiful sweet heart and make you smile.  It is a request that is irresistible …almost impossible to deny.

     You will soon out grow the need to ask for more “Goldfish.”  After all, you know where the snack drawer is and you will soon be able to get your own crackers.  You will get too big to stand on the counter-top.  Cartoons and silly songs will eventually lose their ability to entertain.  As you grow, you will find many different opportunities to ask for “more.”  I pray that you will become selective in what you ask for and expect.  The world will entice you to want more of material, glitzy “things”; however, their sparkle and shine will gradually fade and leave you wanting even “more” of the flash than before. An abundance of glitz and sparkle will not bring you joy. 

      Emily, God has so many plans for you!  He wants to give you “more” than you can imagine to request - more love, more joy, more life – riches that will never lose their value.  Seek His guidance for your life and anticipate His blessings!  You will be amazed….”MORE?”

I love you!!  BB

“It is only with gratitude that life becomes rich” (Dietrick  Bonhoeffer).

CHEERING FOR EMILY

June 9, 2012

Dear Emily,

You are almost a year old and what a year it has been!  Without a doubt, you are the most beautiful baby ever!!  You have big bright brown eyes that sparkle with joy when you smile or laugh.  And you smile a lot!  Your strawberry blonde hair is beginning to grow over your ears and is just long enough to hold a bow clip.  You have six teeth…four on the top and two on the bottom.  You got your first tooth when you were about four months old and the process has not been easy.  In fact, cutting teeth is one of the first experiences that humans have with the pain of change.  You are tall but dainty.  You may weigh twenty pounds!  Although you can stand alone, and you can walk around a table or stool while holding on, you refuse to take those first real steps.  You still crawl to get where you want to go which works just fine so there is no need to rush, but you found out quickly that crawling is hard on your knees so you learned to manipulate a one legged scoot.  You look quite comical when you do it, but sister, you can fly.  You are too funny!!  Of course your other mode of transportation is for someone to carry you, and there is no shortage of volunteers for that job!  When you hold up your arms and make that little sound that says “Please pick me up and take me with you,” you are irresistible!  You are surrounded by people who love you - who want to protect you and make your life easy.

MAYNA AND EMILY

Unfortunately, “easy” is not always the best route.  Those of us who love you know that for you to grow and develop your skills, you have to be challenged.  In order to learn to walk, you have to let go of the table.  You have to find the courage to take those first steps.  You will probably fall down, not once, but several times.  You will probably bump your head.  You will probably cry.  The good news is that that your family and friends will be close by to cheer for those first steps, to pick you up when you fall, to hold you when you cry, and to encourage you to try again.  Falling, pain, crying – all a part of life that you will experience over and over again…practically every time you face a challenge. But God’s greatest gift to us is the love and support of family and friends who help us through the hard places in our lives and who encourage us to try again.

So go for it, Emily  - time to let go of the table and take that first step. Be brave!   You can do it!!   No worries - we are all right behind you!

I love you!!

BB

BB's BLESSING

March 7, 2012

Dear Emily,

You are eight months old.  One short year ago, we had found out that you would be a girl, and that your parents had chosen the name Emily Michelle for you.  A short year ago we were wondering what life would be like with a new baby around.  Now we cannot imagine what our world would be without you.    You have brought so much joy!   A short year ago, I had believed God had blessed my life to the max…then came you.

You are not only the happiest baby that I have ever been around -  you are the happiest person that I have ever been around.  Your smile is infectious… and practically constant.  Your eyes are bright and alert and definitely “flirty.”  You no longer take your bottle in the prone position.  Evidently, you seem to fear that something will happen that you can’t see if you lie down.  You are aware of everything and everyone around you.  You fight sleep (you and I very much have this trait in common…we both seem to think that sleeping is such a waste of time and only succumb when it is unavoidable). 

Yesterday I had a meeting that ended much earlier than expected, and since Tuesday is EMILY DAY, I picked you up early at Miss Peggy’s.  Your mom and Simon had missed school with a nasty virus so I “volunteered” to keep you later than usual.  What a joy!!  You had already had a nap, so you were wide awake and ready to play.  The wagon of blocks, the barrels inside a barrel, and the stacked boxes all belonged to your daddy and Uncle Robert, but now you are enjoying them.  You are not quite up to stacking the boxes or figuring out how to build with the blocks, but it won’t be long.  Right now you mostly enjoy chewing on whatever you have in your hands. 

Playtime, then suppertime.  You tolerated the turkey and rice baby food from the jar, but you really enjoyed your part of my orange sherbet ice cream cone afterwards!  Next it was time for a bath so I stripped off your clothes and set you in the bathroom sink full of warm water.  You splashed and splashed and splashed some more. You seemed to love the massage as I dried you and rubbed you with baby lotion.   No smell in the world is sweeter than a clean baby snuggled into clean pajamas.  

Your smile, your laugh, your hugs and kisses…”you are so wonderful to me….” When I walked into the house after taking you home, the blocks, barrels, and boxes were still scattered in the floor, and your dirty clothes were still lying in the bathroom, but the house seemed so quiet and empty without you the sound of your cooing and laughing.   I felt almost sad.  BUT tomorrow is Thursday and you know what that means!    Thursday is EMILY DAY again.  Hooray!!  What will new and wonderful thing will you do tomorrow?  I can hardly wait to be with you again.

ENTERTAINING BB

January 13, 2012

Dear Emily,

You are six and a half months old and quite the little entertainer!  It is impossible to be with you for more than fifteen seconds and not smile!  That’s because you are so happy.  When you see me walk into Miss Peggy’s house, your face breaks into a huge smile.  When I snap your carrier into the car seat, you look up at me with those sweet eyes and smile as if to say “Yay, BB!  This is going to be so much fun!”  As soon as we get home, you begin to hold out your arms, arch your back, and kick your legs to let me know that you are ready to play.  And that’s what we do! 

On Tuesday afternoon, I took you out of the carrier and put you on the  carpet on your back.  For just a heartbeat, you looked up at me – I think just to make sure I was watching – and then you did it!  You flipped over on your stomach, drew up your knees, twisted your bottom around, and sat up…all in a flash and all on your own.  And once you were balanced, you looked up at me and beamed…”Ta-da! See? I did it BB!”  And I cheered!  “Yay Emily! Yes! You did it! You are so smart! Let’s do it again!”  And you did.  Over and over just to entertain me, and I loved it.  

When you are at my house, the only important thing is you.  Forget cooking – forget washing clothes – forget grading papers –  all those minor things

“…can wait till tomorrow, for babies grow up

           we’ve learned to our sorrow.

So quiet down cobwebs…

Dust go to sleep…”

I’M PLAYING WITH EMILY AND EMILY WON’T KEEP!!

JUST SO YOU KNOW

January 1, 2012

Dear Emily,

Today I wore my grandmother’s gold bracelet to church.  My grandmother, Jimmie Floyd Ogilvie, gave it to me when I was fifteen.  Her father, James Floyd, had given her the bracelet in 1907 for her 12^th birthday.  Her initials “J F” are engraved on the top in a beautiful script.   I always thought it was unique that my grandmother’s name was Jimmie…Jimmie is usually a boy’s name… but my great-grandfather had wanted a boy so he gave her the name he had planned for a boy…Jimmie…after himself.  Grandmama didn’t have much jewelry…she was not the kind of person to care about things like that, but she treasured that bracelet, and so do I. 

I adored my grandmother.  When I was growing up, I tried to spend as much time as possible at Grandmama’s house.  She was always there.  The only places she went were to the beauty shop on Friday and to church on Sunday; otherwise, she was at home taking care of my invalid grandfather, cooking for farm hands, and tending to her flowers.  She was content.  I know that kind of life probably sounds boring to you, but Grandmama was far from boring.  She shared with me fascinating stories about her childhood.  Grandmama was only nine when her mother died, but she assumed the responsibility of rearing her five other sibilings. Other stories were about my daddy and his three brothers.  Grandmama had four sons in five years so there was never a dull moment.  Some of her most interesting stories were about the years that my grandfather was county sheriff.  During that time, they left the farm with a caretaker and moved to Lewisburg to live at the jail where Grandmama cooked for the prisoners! 

When I wear her bracelet, I’m not wearing just a piece of antique jewelry…I’m wearing a storehouse of memories. Mine and hers.  You will never meet her.  You will never experience what a sweet, loving, kind, and generous person she was.  But you will know her stories, and someday, Emily, you also will wear her bracelet, and you too will remember.