My brain is abuzz.

I'm so full of thoughts and ideas about life and blogging and REMODELING.

You guys. We bought a house. We bought a fixer upper. You know what this means??? It means that the men in my life are actually encouraging me to fritter my life away on Pinterest.

I figure I'm going to have to start following more DIY and Design Blogs, so I can get a sense of how you're supposed to blog about remodels, but here's how the story starts.

The (Beginning of the) Story

My little brother Robert moved in with us last December. He started working the same job Jacob works, and had grand plans of buying a fixer upper with my older brother Jonathan who also lives in Houston. So the two brothers toured house after house and made offer after offer, but the Houston market was hopping, and for months and months they had no success. Instead of fixing up a house, my little brother planned a trip to South America.

Then we all head out on a big family vacay to Hawaii and come home to a message from Robert and Jonathan's realtor who has a house that's pretty much theirs for the taking. My brothers were stoked, but they couldn't quite afford it without Jacob and me. And in a 72 hour turn around, we make an offer, it's accepted, Rob hops a plane to Colombia, I go to Edel, Jonathan leaves to lead a retreat, and in a group text to end all group texts we organize inspections and negotiations and closing dates and wire transfers (which are a little tricky from Colombia, who knew?) and powers of attorney, and all of a sudden, Jacob and I are sitting in a high rise, staring down at the whirring Houston traffic below, signing document after document, and buying an ugly house. Jacob couldn't wait 24 hours to hack into some walls. Isn't it beautiful?

The house is not in huge disrepair, but it's VERY dated. Are we in over our heads? Probably. Does my heart swell with anticipation every time I tread over the yellowing linoleum? Totally. Did I spend a substantial portion of yesterday afternoon pulling out finishing nails with a baby on my hip? Yes, and as inefficient as it was, I'd do it all again.

I'm so excited to start this journey, and I'm so excited to share it with you!

Before I Had a Seven Year Old: Bonnie of A Knotted Life

Thanks for joining us for the second installment of Before I Had a Seven Year Old, a series where I ask moms about their experiences in early motherhood. 

Bonnie is one of the sweetest bloggers in my little corner of the internet, so I was delighted when she agreed to take part in this shindig. Now before we all start splitting hairs we'll recognize that Bonnie doesn't quite have a seven year old. So maybe we can update this in a few months and she can tell us how extreme the 6/7 divide really is. You might know her from the Sheenazing Awards that she hosts or for being the mother of this little miracle. I had the pleasure of meeting and chatting with her at Edel and can confirm that she's just as lovely in the flesh as she is at A Knotted Life.

How many kids do you have and how old are they?

I have 6 kids. One in Heaven, and then a 6, 4, 3, 2, and 1 year old.

What are the biggest differences in your home life now that you have slightly biggers running around and not just really littles?

I have more time to myself now and I have help. Because they're all close in age they can all play pretty well together which allows for some really good breaks for me. I can send all the kids, sans baby, out to the back yard to play while I meal prep or blog or clean and I know they'll be okay. Part of that is where we live but part of it is that the older two (my 4 year old is almost 5) are very capable of organizing play. Also, my 6 year old is very responsible and a really good kid and so she's also very helpful with putting shoes on the 2 year old, changing diapers, buckling kids in... All my kids help set and clear the table, water potted plants, gather garbage, put their clean clothes away, tidy the house, etc. It's wonderful!

What's something you miss about that stage of only really littles?

My house was quieter and they were all in cribs and couldn't climb into our bed at night, but that's about it. It wasn't until my 4th that I really enjoyed the baby stage and I was still pretty clueless when I had my first three so I don't miss much. 

What's something you stressed about that doesn't stress you out at all anymore?

What other people say. I don't really care what "they" say anymore. So much of my parenting the first few years was trying to follow what "they" say. Now I follow my gut, my mom's advice, and the law. 

Have you ever (metaphorically...or literally) locked yourself in the bathroom to stay sane?

If it's cold outside I step out on the porch so I can literally and figuratively cool off. If it's hot outside I lock myself in my bedroom and turn the fan on high. I have done this much more than once or twice or even ten times. Sometimes it was because of me, untreated postpartum depression led to a very short fuse, and so I had to get out of the house and away from my kids before I would rage. Sometimes it was because of the kids, meltdowns or puke everywhere or just me being overstimulated by five kids all crying for my attention, and I just had to step away for a moment and regroup. For me, locking myself away was always a good decision. If I was in a really bad place I would binge eat. If you saw me binge eating things were not okay and I was (am) grabbing for something to make it better. 

What's an expectation for yourself/your kids/your husband that you have totally let go of?

That we have to be perfect right away. The kids aren't the only ones learning and growing - my husband and I are too! We're going to make some mistakes - all of us - because so much of this is uncharted territory for us. 

How did you and your husband support one another when you were new parents?

At the end of the day we would sit on the sofa, totally pooped, and commiserate together. It was great for bonding.

 
How did you build community for yourself and for your family?

From the very beginning I was looking for something and tried the La Leche League in my area. It was nice but the other moms were definitely more crunchy than I was and none of them shared my religious beliefs. I didn't fit in. I was thrilled when a woman at my parish later invited me to be a founding member of a pray and play group. I also hosted a small group Bible study in my home one summer with my husband. We arranged for an older couple from our parish to be present to babysit the kids, I handed out flier-invites to the different couples (we have a small parish - it was all the young adults), and I sent text message reminders. It was great, and while I only did it that one summer it was a wonderful way to get to know those other couples.

What was your hardest transition after having a newborn? 0 to 1 kid? 1 to 2? 6 to 7? Why?

0 to 1 was by far the hardest - it was even harder than 2 to 3 and my 3rd spent 7 weeks in the NICU! I went from working and knowing what I was doing and seeing results to being a stay at home mom who was clueless and exhausted. My daughter cried all the time and it was really difficult. Incredibly difficult. I would actually say that it's gotten easier with every child we've added. 

If you could go back and tell something to your newmom self, what would it be?

Don't clean! Hold your baby and sleep. That's all that matters.

Thanks for reading and thank you so much to Bonnie! And if you veteran moms are interested in sharing your own stories from the early years be sure to link up here.

Went to The Hundred Event...You Know...Bought a House

We're back from Dallas and The Hundred Event.

What an amazing amazing event - so many exquisite details, so many things to learn, and so many old and new bloggy friends to chat and laugh and chat with. Lauren, Grace, Bridget, and Megan done did this right.

I was pretty intimidated to pack myself and my dinky family blog up for a real blogging conference, but I quickly connected with Blythe, Nell, Olivia, Britt, and Katrina. We started a group text, and then we were off to the races.

I went to sessions on freelance writing and photography, I discovered lots of new brands, and I got to hear Kendi herself talk about her blogging journey. I made new friends like Katie and Joanna and Kelly and Taylor and Indiana.

And. The. Food.

I might have to become a restaurant blogger now. On Saturday we had pizza from Il Cane Rosso: some of the best pizza I've had stateside. And I used to live in Italy so that means I have a lot of autorita on this subject.

And THEN I ate one of the most delicious sandwiches of my life from Ruthie's Party Truck. If you live in Dallas, go hunt that truck down and have yourself a Summer Chick Special before the season is over and then join me in never using anything but muenster on a grilled cheese ever again.

We pulled into our driveway in the wee hours of the morning, stumbled ourselves and our littles into bed, and one short sleep past we woke and bought a house.

?!?!?!?!



?!?!?!?!?!?!

More details to come.

7QT Friday: The Hundred, The House, and A Failproof Exercise Routine

- 1 -

In a few hours I will be headed to The Hundred where I will meet up with some of my blogging buddies and hone my craft. When I was signing up for sessions, I actually had to look up what "prop styling" was, so I'm starting at a bit of a deficit...but I'm stoked!

- 2 -

Life has been busy lately. I confess to saying things are busy when they really aren't, but this time I can say it honestly.

Life HAS been REALLY busy. We were in St. Louis then Los Angeles then Hawaii then home then Austin then Fredericksburg and tomorrow we head to Dallas. Somewhere in the middle of that, I started talking to someone about teaching again this fall and then we powowed with my two brothers here in Houston and bought a house. What?!? Yup. We bought a fixer upper with my brothers and my is she ugly. We close Monday, and I can't wait to start ripping out linoleum. Or watch as Jacob and my brothers start ripping out linoleum because I know exactly what I'll be doing during this entire remodel project and one is nine months old and the other is going through a super whiny phase and tries to explain away all his ugly behavior with "I was just pretending to be a bad guy."

And we're excited about it, and even though the house is more of an "investment," we're thinking after the remodel is done we're just going to move into it. Like all of us. Together. Like Jacob and me and our kids and my two bachelor brothers. It has four bedrooms, so it's not insane but it is kinda crazy.

And did I mention it's a very ugly house? Because it's very very ugly. It's every kind of ugly. The dingy paneling kind. The linoleum yellowing with age kind. The musty carpet bunching at the wall kind. It's a house that screams: fix me up! There's no way you'll make me worse than I am! 

Anywho. Get ready. Because this blog is going to get a little crazy with before and after pics.

I'm examining the prop styling in this photo...but after this weekend I'll be able to examine it like a pr...someone who's been to a session on prop styling.

- 3 -

I try to wake up early - or at least I've been trying over the last six months. Lucy June kinda sleeps in, and Jake stays in his room until his Christmas lights click on at 7am (or at least he did before I forgot how to reprogram the outlet timer and at 6:30 my "quiet time" has been peppered with "NOW is it time to get up? But the sun is SHINING.") so my alarm is set for 5:50, and sometimes it only takes a couple snoozes before I'm up and drinking coffee and typing on the blog or tooling around the internet, and it's...pure bliss. Then the kids wake up and I get them breakfast and sing my way through unloading the dishwasher. 

Or that's about 30% of the time. The other 70% of the time I snooze right on through my alarm or I wake up and so does Lucy June or Jake throws down the Ace of spades and yells out "MAMA I needa go POOPOO!!!!" And then it's 6:15 and everyone's awake and the morning just got a lot longer and my coffee goes in the microwave over and over and over again. 

- 4 -

Exercising while your coffee is brewing

So I haven't been burning through any miles recently. I don't know if you know this, but Houston is hot. And humid. In the spring the kiddos and I were pretty religious about our midmorning jogs, but now...it's just too hot. The only times cool enough to jog are, respectively, my am coffee-drinking time or my pm wine-drinking time, and I've cut into those sacred times like...twice all summer. 

Which leads me to my safehold as far as exercise is concerned: coffee brewing time.

How do you spend your coffee brewing time? 

I spend mine doing abdominal exercises. This is something my mother taught me. My over-exercised high school self was pretty unimpressed by my mother's coffee-brewing work outs, but here I am, half my life later, and I'm only just beginning to realize how brilliant she was. 

- 5 -

So I mentioned earlier that Jake is in a bit of a  - lets cross our fingers and call it a - phase right now. Pushing boundaries, those types of things. Most of this little toddler exerting his independence is pretty unfun, except this one part: he's learning to express his dislike for certain things but he doesn't have the vocabulary for it. We get a lot of "I DON'T LOVE this squash, mama." And "This pasta is NOT my favorite."

So THAT part of the phase can stay.

- 6 -

Me: Jake, what does this say?

Jake: Jake Ramsay Rhodes

- 7 -

Butter Waffle Cookies from Trader Joes

These are what happen when you send Jacob to TJs for some "sweet potatoes and sparkling water."

- 7.5 -

In an effort not to lose my baby blogger brand: kiddos. harmonizing.

Click on over to Jen's for more Quick Takes. Happy Weekend!

Before I Had a Seven Year Old: Kendra of Catholic All Year

This is the first in a series where I ask moms about their experiences in early motherhood. And today we're talking with Kendra from Catholic All Year.

I first met Kendra when Blythe invited me to dinner at her house. So I went to dinner with my then-fiance, Jacob Rhodes. I remember I brought a dessert involving vanilla wafers because I wanted it to be kid-friendly...and then of course we ate it on the Tierneys' china. I've since learned how the Tierneys roll when it comes to hosting people and parties, and I'm proud to say I attended several a Hooley before our stint in So Cal was over. 

I'm so excited to have Kendra here today!

How many kids do you have and how old are they?

I have seven:

Jack 12, Betty 10, Bobby 8, Gus 6, Anita 5, Frankie 2, Lulu 7m

What are the biggest differences in your home life now that you have slightly biggers running around and not just really littles?

So much. 

Nap time: A renowned introvert and lover of accomplishing things, I have always cherished and defended nap time. When I had two and three little kids, getting them all down at the same time was a challenge. I'd start really early, reading a story to the four year old and putting him down, then songs and snuggling for the three year old, and by that time the one year old was throwing a fit because he was overtired, but he took the shortest naps, so if I put him down first, he'd wake up before I'd had a chance to do anything but put other kids down for naps. 

Now, if the baby is fussing, I take care of the baby, and my preschoolers have four big kids to choose from to get their stories and songs. And, to my knowledge, the big kids don't even skip entire pages of story books because they really wanna get out of there.

TV: We used to have the TV on every day. I'd put it on in the morning so the kids would leave me alone while I tried to get all the chores done. I'd put it on for myself during the aforementioned nap time while I'd fold laundry or work on a project. I'd put it on in the afternoon during the post-nap grumpy period and sometimes again while I made dinner. Then the husband and I would watch something together after the kids went to bed. The TV was probably on five or six hours per day.

Now, we go days and days without ever turning it on. We don't have cable any more, and don't miss it. In the morning, we do school (and I have help with the chores) so there's no TV. During nap time, my bigs aren't napping, so, for better or worse (probably better) I just can't watch all those super-edifying programs I used to indulge in all by myself. After naps, the little kids have the big kids to play with, and don't even ask about shows. Often I'll be working on something and realize that the little guys are already up and someone's gotten them a snack and I didn't even know. Same with dinner time, the little kids don't need the TV to keep them occupied. And sometimes I'm not even the one cooking dinner! All three of my oldest can prepare a meal, and do. And as the big kids go to bed later, they're around in the evenings, so, again, less grown-up TV watching. Some. But comparatively little.

Chores, laundry, bathing, all are improved by having big kids.

What's something you miss about that stage of only really littles?

I miss the freedom that we had in our days before we had school. I miss little kid outings. I miss going to the children's museum and winter beach days. We're a homeschooling family, so we do take field trips at least once a month, and we all go together. But I miss those days of chatting with a four year old over breakfast and deciding what we might do that day. There were so many possibilities.

Whether or not you homeschool, your day changes dramatically once you have school-aged kids. You've got responsibilities and things that need to be accomplished and places to be a certain times. There's MORE flexibility as a homeschooling family, but still there are things to be done and times to do them

And kids' sports really change the dynamic of your week. We used to have our afternoons free for errands and always eat dinner as a family every night. Now, our afternoons and evenings 3-4 days per week are taken up with sports. And that's having found what we think is a workable compromise and NOT pursuing the most rigorous sports opportunities for our kids.  

What are some things you did with your first baby that in hindsight seem a little ridiculous?

Ummm, ALL the things?

I recently wrote about how my introduction of solid foods has taken a decided turn for the less-structured.

I also once called my husband from a motel parking lot about halfway home from the Target that was three miles from our apartment to tell him that newborn Jack was crying in his car seat so I was just going to walk home with him and leave the car there and Jim would need to walk to the motel to pick up the car after he was done with classes for the day.

My plan was not approved. Somehow Jack did live through the car ride home.

Also, I always remembered that Jack HATED his first bath and screamed through the whole thing. It seemed odd because my babies now have all liked their first bath, and found it soothing and whatnot. Well, we were watching some old videos, and there came the video of Jack's first bath and OH MY GOODNESS of course he didn't like it. I put his bath seat in the sink, stripped him down, and just turned the faucet on him. Who does that? Poor thing. It's a wonder he bathes at all now.

These days, our new babies take a nice warm bath IN WATER with mama, and they like it just fine.

What's something you stressed about that doesn't stress you out at all anymore?

The realization that my child's being upset about something didn't have to upset ME has changed my whole life for the better.

If I've made what I think is a proper parenting decision, for instance, "we need to leave now in order to make it home for lunch at a reasonable time" or "babies should not eat earbuds," I can't let that decision (or my own peace of mind) be derailed by a kid getting upset about that decision. Now . . .  I don't take it personally, I just always mean what I say and don't let upset kids upset me. Calm but firm is my mantra.

Not allowing being upset to be an effective way of getting what you want is actually a great deterrent in itself, but even when it's not, there's always "Cryin' babies go to bed." It's very liberating.

What's an expectation for yourself/your kids/your husband that you have totally let go of?

For me, it was that I could do it all. That I could cook our meals, and raise my kids, and educate my kids, and volunteer, and get kids to activities, and run errands, and host events, and do the cleaning, and do the laundry. It's easy to say, "I should be able to do all of this. Look at all these modern conveniences. I have a dishwasher and a microwave and a washing machine. My grandmother and her grandmother didn't have those things and she got all this done." 

But that doesn't take into consideration the truth of our days. We have more modern conveniences, but we also have more expectations. We have a washing machine, but we have ten times or a hundred times more laundry. We have a car, but we travel a hundred times or a thousand times more miles in a year. We have a refrigerator and a microwave but we cook more things and more often.

The fact of the matter is that our days are full, fuller than our grandmother's grandmother, because SHE didn't have electric lights that allowed her to keep working into the night. She had servants or extended family or neighbors to help in a way that few of us have now. And it doesn't do anyone any good to not be honest about how hard this job is.

I can't do everything on that list on my own. I don't think any woman can. I had to pick some of the things to do. And some of the things to outsource. And some of the things to not do. And be okay with it. I think that's what every head of a household needs to do.

How do you conquer nap strikes?

By just really loving naps and being more stubborn than a three year old.

I wrote all about it here: Pushing Past the Nap Strike

What's one specific thing you're glad that you've taught your older children?

I'm going to cheat on this one and gift you one specific CONCEPT rather than one specific thing, but it's so, so important to me: Independence.

My kids can do things on their own. They expect to. The confident extroverted ones, and the cautious introverted ones, they all do things for themselves. It helps me run a big family household and I think it's a skill that will serve them well throughout their lives.

What was your hardest transition after having a newborn? 0 to 1 kid? 1 to 2? 6 to 7? Why?

Two to three was the hardest for me. More kids than parents. More kids than hands. Still no one old enough to help in a meaningful way. But with baby number three, I got to my 10,000 hours of baby-parenting, which made me a bonafied expert. And baby-parenting got easier after that. Then, between babies six and seven, my oldest turned ten. And EVERYTHING GOT SO MUCH EASIER!

If you could go back and tell something to your newmom self, what would it be?

That my baby wouldn't be like the ones in the parenting books I read. It was a really painful process to discover on my own. I read the books by the experts. I did what they said. It didn't work. My baby didn't sleep the way they said he would. He was actually injured by the way they told me to feed him. He had sensory and behavior issues they never mentioned. I think my process of learning to mother him was really hindered by having so many false expectations of what he would be like.

I wish I could tell myself, "Read the books if you must, but remember that your baby is a new and unique person who has never existed before in the world. A book isn't going to be able to tell you how to mother HIM. Only experience and trial and error and YOUR MAMA GUT will be able to do that."

For more of the same - or to share your stories from early motherhood - head back to the link up here. And a big thank you to Kendra for starting off this little series!!

Before I Had a Seven Year Old: A Series and a Link-Up

Let's start this out by clarifying: I don't have a seven year old. No magical three year olds turning into seven year olds over here, just me bending the ears of some mothers who DO in fact have seven year olds.

Three years ago, when I was a newly minted mother in Los Angeles, I had a baby shower. Schedules worked out in such a way that we had the shower when my little man was about eight weeks old. I was a new mother with a colicky two month old, and I was hurtin. I was in the trenches. I was drowning. I was in over my head. I was all the things. 

Jake cried pretty much incessantly from the time he was two weeks old to the time he was eight weeks old. I would sit in my room and nurse him, rock him, sing to him, walk him around, or any combination of those things. And I would wonder if he was ever going to stop crying. I mean this literally. In my sleep deprived state, I thought my baby might just cry forever, and I didn't even realize how absurd that thought was. I had to reason myself away from it. I told myself that I certainly didn't know any adults who cried all the time. Then I considered toddlers: I knew two and three year olds had tantrums, but I was pretty sure they didn't cry all the time either. And with this logic I was able to see some glimmer of hope out of the hole of "my baby spends every waking minute crying." You might think I'm exaggerating. But I'm not.

So this shower was right before I got some reprieve from all the crying, and the narrative was pretty set in my head: I didn't like this whole mothering gig and I was pretty bad at it.

Two of my earliest LA buddies - and now blogging buddies - were at the shower: Blythe, one of the shower hosts, and Kendra, who'd sewn Jake a yellow and black quilt with honey bees on it. Kendra was pregnant with her sixth at the time, and at some point as we were opening presents, someone asked her what item she recommended most for newborns and she said: "A seven year old."

I've thought back to the moment many times over the last three years, and already, even though I have more to deal with now that I have two, it's getting easier. That's a phrase that gets thrown around a lot: "It gets easier." I've spoken with mothers who have struggled with the transition from one to two, or mothers whose struggles peaked at three under four. And then of course, others like me who had rocky rocky initial transitions to motherhood. We cling to that truth: "It gets easier." But we cling to it guiltily because we know we shouldn't wish the time away.

Some of my favorite moments in blogs of mothers who have older (but still little) kids are the "throwback" moments when they talk about what it was like when they only had babies and toddlers at home. So I reached out to a few of my blogger friends and asked them some questions about what life was like when they only had very little children in the home, and over the next few weeks I'll be publishing their responses in a series called "Before I Had a Seven Year Old." We'll kick it off tomorrow.

I hope this little series will encourage new moms who have very recently had their lives turned upside down by motherhood and could really benefit from a seasoned mother's perspective.

If you're a mother of not just babies and toddlers and would like to write/have written your own "throwback" post about what life was like when you were still adjusting to motherhood, I encourage you to link it up here.

An InLinkz Link-up

#Edel14

Edel Edel Edel. (For the half dozen of you non Catholic mommy bloggers: I went to a Catholic women's conference called the Edel Gathering over the weekend. This post is shaking down to be my recap.)

               Hallie   Jen                Bonnie                                Christy       Kelly   Haley      mygirlAdrienne

Edel was kind of a blur. An awesome awesome blur. The kids and Jacob were with me since we were all en route to a wedding Saturday night. I knew going into Edel that I would miss the Saturday evening festivities because a dear friend was getting married that night. I also knew the conference would not be the relaxing and rejuvenating experience it was meant to be because I would be dodging back to the hotel room between sessions to nurse a clingy nine month old.

We stayed at the La Quinta up the street from the Omni, and after we arrived on Friday, Jacob took Jake for a swim in the hotel pool so I could get ready for the evening's cocktail party. I fidgeted and fidgeted with my hair, mad at myself for the mop of neglect it has become, put it up, combed it down, considered taking a shower, felt guilty about not just growing up already and paying good money for a good hair cut. I eventually managed a lackluster braid and slumped down on the bed to check the interwebs for some #edel14 love. Jacob got back from the pool with the toddler, looked at Lucy June on the floor of the hotel room chewing on a remote control, and then helped me through my minor meltdown concerning an old stain on the only dress I'd brought (prepared who?).

Jacob helped get the stain out and gave me a pep talk. Then I pulled on my cowboy boots and moseyed over to the Omni for the cocktail party. I wondered if I would see anyone I recognized in the lobby, but as soon as I walked through the glass doors I got so nervous I just stared at the ground and basically 007ed it to the elevators. After waiting six minutes (a lifetime!) for the elevator, I finally made it to Adrienne's room. Adrienne is one of my blogfriends turned real life friend, and we'd already decided to walk into this gig holding hands. I was nervous. So was she.

I couldn't make sense of the nerves I had. Or maybe I could. Over the years, this community of bloggers has become so important to me - it's helped carry me through these tough early parenting years. I'd thought about the possibility of a gathering like this for a long time, but it'd seemed so impossible. But thankfully Hallie and Jen are a little bit insane and a little bit magical because they made it happen.

I knew I didn't have the time to be nervous: I had so many people I wanted to connect with, that the connecting had to happen ASAP and I had to squelch any desire to appear cool in favor of marching right up to people and introducing myself. So Adrienne and I kicked back our first glass of wine and before I knew it, we were laughing with a five minute old friend about armpit stains.

Edel was electric.

Friday and Saturday were full of intros and little conversations and seeking out people that I wanted to say hello to. On Saturday afternoon, I was watching the countdown for when I had to leave for my friend's wedding. 1 hour. 45 minutes. 10 minutes. Soon I was giving Adrienne one last hug and running out to the street where my husband had been playing in the car for the past two hours with the baby while the toddler napped in his car seat.

We headed west out of town on 290; we headed west away from Edel.

Rushing to my hometown in the rural Texas Hill Country for this wedding, I could only think about how I was leaving this vibrant vibrant space that had collected women from so many places.

Two hours later and I was sitting on a white wooden chair in a crowd of people full of expectation - many of the faces in the crowd I recognized and even the faces I didn't recognize were familiar because of our common purpose. We were all about to witness something important. The buzz of Edel faded as I watched this friend walk the aisle in the most beautiful wedding dress I'd ever seen. The same wedding dress her mother and grandmother had worn before her. And I heard Hallie's words from the conference anew: "It is good that you are here."

Shamelessly stolen from facebook. 

Since that moment, those words have become like a song stuck in my head. Sitting at the breakfast table with my gentlemen and my little lady: "It is good that you are here." Nursing a baby to sleep and telling story after story to a drowsy toddler: "It is good that you are here." At book club with my dear Houston community as a dozen children run around in costumes and fight over toys and Jake spits on everyone: in a space beyond the din of the new five year old's harmonica, "It is good that you are here."

And now I must go to bed before I'm tempted to use another word like "din." Goodnight, friends.