THIRD GRADE FIELD DAY

Dear Emily, 

     Today is Field Day at Eagleville School. It is a beautiful, sunny day, and I am sorry that I am missing it, but like so many things in the past year, Covid precautions have prevented me from being there. Only parents can attend! It’s sad because one item at the top of my list of “Reasons to retire” was “I’ll be able to attend more functions at Emily’s school.” I won’t complain though. Other people have suffered the effects of Covid and restrictions much more than I have. Having to miss out on your Third Grade Field Day is just a little bump in the road. 

     Daddy has sent pictures. It looks like you are doing really well. I see a blue band, a red band, and lots of yellow bands. I can’t wait to hear about the events those bands match. What continues to strike me is how tall you are getting to be as you finish the Third Grade and are almost ten years old. The other day as we were sitting together on the piano bench, I couldn’t help but notice that your legs are actually longer than mine (which isn’t really saying much!). When people ask you where you get your long legs, you say from Simon, and he gets his long legs from his dad. You aren’t old enough yet to understand that the family tree doesn’t exactly fork in that direction, but it does give me pause. Where do you get your long legs? 

     Your daddy is tall, but he doesn’t have long legs. You mom for sure doesn’t have long legs either! Neither do any of your grandparents, so we have to move along the family tree to the greats. I don’t know anything about your Jones background; however, you do have some height and long legs in your Ogilvie and Brown heritage. My daddy and Uncle Jay were both tall; however, their legs weren’t lanky. On Pap’s side, I clearly remember Uncle Jack and Uncle Alvie: both tall and lanky fellows with long legs. It’s highly possible that those genes skipped a couple of generations and have manifested themselves in you! 

     I can only speculate. What I know for sure is that you enjoy using your long legs to jump and run. They are strong, healthy legs that will carry you anywhere you want to go although I chuckle every time that I watch you do a cartwheel. Those long legs are like a colt’s legs – you just can’t quite control where they go! Today, you are using them to compete in races with your friends and classmates. It looks like you’re winning. My prayer for you is that those legs will always take you to good and happy places where you will find joy and love. I promise to be on the sideline cheering you on and reminding you that as you walk (or race) through life, to seek God’s guidance and strength so that in the Field Day of Life, you will always be a winner! 

 Love,  BB

LAYERS OF PEARL!

Dear Pearl, 

     Seventeen weeks! Twenty-three weeks to go until we meet you! The app on your daddy’s phone says that you are currently the size of a large onion! I find it interesting that this app uses fruits and vegetables to visualize your growth from week to week. And I find it really strange that you’re being compared to an onion. Seriously? Your mommy told me that the measurement is actually from the top of your head to your tailbone – it doesn’t include your legs. You can still fit in the palm of my hand!              In spite of the questionable use of an onion comparison, I suspect that you are and will continue to be very much like an onion. An onion has layers that can be peeled off one at a time. Instead of peeling off layers, for the next twenty-three weeks, you are adding layers! Here’s the amazing thing about you. You already have all the things – you have arms and legs - you have skin – toes – eyes. God already knows the length of your legs and the color of your eyes. We have to wait with anticipation. You even have all your inside things too! As the weeks pass, you will add inches and weight to your body and layers of fat under your skin so that at the end of those twenty-three weeks, you will be born, plump and healthy and ready to take on the world. And that will be when the layers start to peel off! Not physically. You will continue to grow, but every week, a new layer will disappear, and every time a layer peels off, there will be cheering, laughing, and possibly happy tears just like peeling an onion! You will smile – layer gone. You will hold your head up – another layer gone. Rolling over – really big layer! Pulling up on the side of the crib – and so it goes. Layer after layer will peel away as you grow day by day.

     Peeling also occurs in a different way – a much more subtle way. As you grow physically, the layers of your personality will peel away also. Amazingly, like your body, your personality is already developing while you are in mommy’s tummy. Even though you are no bigger than a large onion, experts say that you already react to your mommy’s feelings as she goes about her day, and that contributes to your personality growth. That’s really good because that means you are happy and sweet and full of love for other people already. I can hardly wait to watch those layers peels away to expose all the beauty of your mother’s personality in you! Somewhere in there, you also have personality traits from your daddy! Those traits will be sweet and loving as well, but (insert smile and wide eyes here) with a strong dose of determination. That’s a really good thing! It means that when you decide to do something, you’ll do it. There won’t be anything “wishy-washy” about you, plus people will always know where they stand with you; however, it is does mean that your parents will need to peel that layer with a lot of love, prayer, and patience! And, like peeling an onion, there will be tears – most will be happy tears – some will not.

     I just realized – there is actually such a thing as a “pearl” onion! It’s tiny and sweet, and full of flavor – that describes you perfectly. You are already “flavoring” our lives with joy! Your entire family is patiently waiting for you to arrive – we don’t want to miss a layer! 

 Love, 

 BB

A PEARL OF A GIRL!!

 

May 2021

 Dear Pearl, 

     You have a gender (girl!) and you have a name! Pearl Lyn Brown. Pearl is an especially feminine name – a name that means “being of great price.” You are a beautiful miracle – your existence is God’s answer to our prayers. Your parents had a “gender reveal” party so that everyone could find out at the same time whether to buy pink or blue outfits. Everyone was invited – everyone was there – everyone was so excited!! We all circled around, and with cupcakes in hand, we waited for the countdown and signal to bite through the white frosting into the filling. Pink!! It’s pink!! Some of the family were surprised. They had expected blue. Not me. From the moment I heard your heartbeat, I knew. Pink!! And now that we know the basics about you, we are beginning to wonder about the particulars. Hair color, eye color, length of fingers and toes, and personality. I’m thinking that your hair and eyes will be dark like rich coffee, and that your fingers and toes will be slender and elegant. I picture you as a dainty baby like your daddy was. You may not think so now, but as a baby, he was like a little bird in my arms.          

     Your daddy was my second baby. Talk about a miracle!! When your Uncle Jay was born, we believed that we had had our only miracle. One doctor had told me that I wouldn’t have children at all, but we had beaten the odds and the result was your Uncle Jay. I didn’t dare dream that I would be blessed with another miracle, and then your daddy was born. Even though his measured weight wasn’t all that different from his brother’s, his frame seemed slight. Your Uncle Jay was a heavy baby – solid – carrying him was sort of like carrying around a sack of potatoes on my hip. Your daddy was different. He was lighter and all arms and legs. 

     His personality was also different from the beginning. Jay slept all night at six weeks; your daddy got his nights and days mixed up soon after we brought him home from the hospital. I had heard about other babies who had trouble sleeping at night, but I thought maybe their parents didn’t know what they were doing. Boy! Was I ever wrong about that! You daddy didn’t sleep at night; in fact, he didn’t really sleep during the day. “Sleep when the baby sleeps” was the advice, but the problem was, the “baby” slept only twenty or thirty minutes at a time! Just about the time I would drift off, the “baby” would begin to cry and the cycle would begin again.     

      Another facet of his personality evolved early too. Being his mother was a new challenge every day because once he decided he wanted something or wanted to do something, changing his mind was tricky at best. This trait has paid off for him, both as a youth and as an adult, but when he was a small child, his determination and stubbornness resulted in one hair pulling experience after another: climbing on the counter tops or unbuckling his car seat in a moving car! Yikes! In October, we will finally meet you – a combination of two amazing people – your mommy and daddy. We will know so much more about you; however, I already know the most important detail – that you are our little Pearl –a most loved and valued treasure in our family.

 BB