Riches

Today is my birthday. It was a most ordinary day. Early awake. A fine espresso (another story) and a sun rise drive to the office. Home again in the evening. D brings in some fine Chinese food for dinner. We pour some wine and sit down in the warm glow of the fireplace to await the activity outside. And as I sit, I’m reminded of all that has passed since my last birthday post two years ago.

J&M have been in their new home in Sammamish for three years now. It’s hard to imagine that – three years. M’s career is going quite well and J loves her work and the flexibility it affords with a little one to tend to. With work of my own in Washington State, I’ve been fortunate over the past several years to visit them often. And D and I target quarterly visits - us to Seattle or them to Omaha. I always have a great time there and have often said that of all the paces that D and I have ever visited, the Seattle area is the only place outside of Omaha that I can actually imagine myself living.

H is growing up so fast - crazy fast! He seems to love his new friends and all the daily activities at his daycare. We’ve been there several times to pick up or deliver and each time we get the same comforting feeling about the place. There is an overriding sense of safety and security that is of great comfort to H and his parents – and his grandparents. And seemingly ever-present also is the sense of consistently gentle care giving and the attention to constant developmental learning. We always feel good leaving there with or without H – although we much prefer “with”.

After a brief rest at home following over a year of volunteer work in a Bolivian orphanage, M was offered a position at a small firm she had admired since her early years in college. She’s been in Berkeley now for going on two years doing urban planning and architecture on a national scale. We love visiting her. She’s got a way of inspiring people and it is wonderful to see.

My favorite teacher K is in her second year as a fifth grade teacher here in Omaha. I’m still amazed when I think of our youngest as teacher rather than student. I went to visit here after school the other day and she was out in front of the school directing traffic as parents and busses and walking children all navigated the space and time between school’s out and home. I remember being afraid that I would be in the wrong lane or turn at the wrong place and cause her to scold me. How times have changed.

And there have been countless quiet evenings at home with D and many quiet and not so quiet evenings with friends. Sitting here this evening with D I truly feel blessed with the riches of our lives. We are blessed with so many good and caring friends and with such close relationships with our adult daughters. It is difficult – no, impossible to image our lives in any better or different terms.

And as the evening’s fire was winding itself down and after all the Halloween commotion seemed to be dying down, our doorbell rang again and in walked our youngest daughter K and a few of our good neighbors with cake and wine. You just cannot beat that.