“Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family. Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one."

Jane Howard

"Memory is a way of holding onto the things you love, the things you are, the things you never want to lose."

from The Wonder Years

May you know the joy of freedom
- and the joy of having roots.

To walk in sunlight along a lonely beach.
To sprawl in meadow grass.
To swim in the transparency of water.
To come home to those you love.

We have a house in Jersey. We have two kids, Annie and Josh. Annie's not much of a violin player, but she tries real hard. She's a little precocious, but that's only because she says what's on her mind. And when she smiles... And Josh, he has your eyes. He doesn't say much, but we know he's smart. He's always got his eyes open, he's always watching us. Sometimes you can look at him and you just know he's learning something new. It's like witnessing a miracle.

The house is a mess but it's ours. After 122 more payments, it's going to be ours. And you, you're a non-profit lawyer. That's right, you're completely non-profit, but that doesn't seem to bother you. And we're in love. After 13 years of marriage we're still unbelievably in love. You won't even let me touch you until I've said it. I sing to you. Not all the time, but definitely on special occasions. We've dealt with our share of surprises and made a lot of sacrifices but we've stayed together. You see, you're a better person than I am. And it made me a better person to be around you.

I don't know, maybe it was just all a dream. Maybe I went to bed one lonely night in December and I imagined it all. But I swear, nothing has ever felt more real. And if you get on that plane right now, it'll disappear forever. I know we could both go on with our lives and we'd both be fine, but I've seen what we could be like together. And I choose us.

-Jack Campbell, The Family Man (2000)

So that's how life works. We have experiences, we love, we feel, we hurt, we cry; we're passionate, overwhelmed, happy. We meet new people, we lose people. There are weddings and babies. We listen to music, we create art - poetry, paintings, songs, mosaics. We love each other. We love each other. That's the best we can do - in anything, loving is most important.

3/11/07

The romantic evenings. The cram sessions. The art projects. That nasty bug that's going around. The playdates. The group photos. The plumbing leak. The leftover pizzas. Marathon games of hide-and-seek. The holidays. Endless worry. Ceaseless dread. The rainy-day stir-crazies. The new puppy. The tantrums. The laundry. The slow dances. The important dinners. The naps. The alarms. the frantic mornings. And beneath it all, the underlying beauty of every single day.