It's like this...

Our third angel turned 11 years old today. It's the hottest day of the year, with the temperatures into 3 digits and we had to have a party. Not inside, nooooooo. This had to be outside in the heat and sunshine. Yes sir, a good time was had by all. She had a pinata filled with candy and an enormous chocolate cake. Getting ready to bash the pinata! My father and my sister (with her two daughters) joined us up on Mud Mountain for the party. Here Allison is getting ready to blow out her candles, with her daddy and her papa watching over the excitment. On our way home I caught a picture of Mt. Rainier in my rear view mirror.

She's laying in bed next to me, this child of mine. Ten years old and light years from the chubby baby that we nicknamed Pudget. She lost that name so long ago, we can't quite remember exactly when she shed that round baby body and emerged so tall and lean and beautiful. We must have blinked at some point along the way. The genesis of the woman she is to become in a few short years, silently sleeping beside me. Her hair is so thick, it lays like a dark honeyed curtain across her face, wisps of it lifting as she exhales out....laying down as she breathes in. Her skin is pale, creamy milk, soft as an angel's wings, spilling out from under her clothes. Eschewing a nightgown for the simple chocolate colored shirt she wore to school today, she lays on her side facing away from me, dreaming her dreams. I love her. My heart is filled to bursting with the joy of feeling her warmth beside me. I love her. She will see things that I never will, experience places I've not se...