33

What a treat to come home to this happy birthday poster last night – made by Grace and Whit with help from Anastasia (bonus photograph of my dear goddaughter Emma on the right). Had a great celebration last night with Whitney, Annie, Brooke, and Suzanne, and this morning had breakfast with my mother and my daughter – what’s more special than that?

Email from Daddy, which made me cry:

Linds:

It was 33 years ago that you arrived, and I left the hospital in the early morning to lecture about land use models at an executive education program at MIT. A fond memory.

And what a furrow you have carved!

I love this picture of my little man and me. He is such a poet, little guy: he has a fierce diaper rash and yesterday he told Anastasia he has “fireworks in his diaper.” What an image!

Fictional (and memoir) characters I love:

Charity Lang in Crossing to Safety. From Publisher’s Weekly: “Charity is one of the most vivid characters in fiction; if she is arrogant, she is also kindhearted, enthusiastic, stalwart and brave:an ardent liver of life. Her incandescent personality is both the dominant force and the source of strain in the enduring friendship Stegner conveys with brilliant artistry.”

Clare Abshire in The Time Traveler’s Wife. She is an inspiration with her loyalty and trust, her willingness to believe something that seems impossible to be true, her sense of humor.

Elizabeth Gilbert in Eat, Pray, Love. Real, honest, funny, raw, vulnerable, smart, loving.

Ann Lord in Evening. She embodies the reflection that comes at the end of a life, and the realization of the ways in which small moments and people who might seem peripheral in fact define us.

A bevy of baby girls, coming to play with all the boys who are here already!
In the last ten days:

Sabina Ida Cherry

Greta Katherine Filippone

Lillian Grace Souza

Liliana Kaur Dhaliwal

Clara Ginn Bonney

Funniest. Birthday Card. Ever.

Love to you, Hillary Fleming!!!