A new life in the middle of winter

Today we became grandmothers...the little guy in this photo is my first grandchild, a boy who took about 60 hours of hard work between him and his mom to come into the world. And there he is, exercising those healthy lungs. Not destined to be the water birth his parents had hoped for, he found welcome comfort at a birth center that made the final leg easier for him, and mom...and discovered that the cord around his neck was slowing his entrance into the world. For this, we're all grateful that we were at a facility that could handle this problem.

His hair is a light brown, and the eyes...what little you see them...are blue. We hope they stay that color. His parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts and uncles and assorted family friends are all glad to meet him at last, and begin planning his future. We hope he'll approve.

Sleep well little man, and allow momma and poppa to sleep too!

Snowfall

Yes, snow. About 4 inches of wonderous, fluffy white. Of course dog is thrilled...even though the snow sticks to her in clumps, on her legs, her chest...anywhere it touches. She is now snow dog.

The snow reminds me of my childhood. The silence that you get only when it's snowing, the flakes falling in all different shapes and sizes, the color of the sky. And, the way snow makes the night so much lighter. And the purple-gray of the night sky. It's been 2 days so it's melting away now. You can see the ground in places, the streets are clearing. Most of what was on the trees is gone. But the memory is there, and there are pictures as reminders. And who know? Maybe it will happen again soon...

Time and relatives

Time...it's that funny thing that happens when we're too busy to notice. It's also a tool telling us what day, year, minute, hour...you get the idea. Time? It's January 2007, but only on this little orb as it pirouettes through the sky, a dot on the ever expanding universe. Millions of light years away, somewhere in the vast darkness of space, some creature may have devised a better way, but so much time will have passed by the time the message gets to us, well...we'll have stopped caring eons ago.

Time passes with agonizing slowness when you're anxious about something. My youngest daughter awaits the birth of her first child, due today. Time is an antagonist for her and her husband...they are ready for this next phase of their lives, hoping to meet baby sooner rather than later. Days and nights are measured by ticking clocks, pains that are NOT laborious in nature, and just the anticipation of how life, and time, will change once they are three and not two.

Time moves in fits and starts when you have set a wedding date, and then must prepare for that day. Dress? Food? Location? It's never too early to start that planning, as my oldest child in Dallas will do these next months. September is many months away, but there is much to do, and it will pass too quickly some days, and too slowly others.

For us, time drags and leaps. Billing cycles come and go. Dog moves from adorable or awful puppy, toward adulthood. Fewer accidents in the house, fewer objects that appeal as chew toys, still too much energy to keep up with. Our lives will change too, becoming grandparents, welcoming a new son-in-law, training ourselves to be better, more responsible keepers of the pets.

I step into 2007 with time often on my mind, sometimes to the point of wasting time. I guess that depends on how you look at it. Maybe I'm just being deep and thoughtful, or maybe I'm just avoiding chores, work or otherwise. I think of the time that's my past, and how long ago my 20s and 30s were, and just how did I get to be nearly 54? Time. Good, bad, and ugly. Scary, boring, joyous, exciting, quiet, noisy, confusing. Time. The place-keeper of our lives.