Happy Birthday to one of the Lights of my life!

She was almost a groundhog. It was February 3, 1996 around 10 a.m. when our third daughter, Grace Marguerite, entered the world. Outside was bitterly cold --  -27˚F. While in labor I made my husband and my friend Fay walk me around the block in the wee hours of morning. Twice.

I haven't looked at the photos from her birth-day in a long time. I am a little unprepared for the emotions that are welling up. Grace's birth was such an enormous joy, but -- perhaps unfairly for her -- it was imbued with an incredible mix of emotions: grief, anxiety, and hope. She was born exactly a month after my dad's sudden passing, and we were still reeling from that. Also, as many of my faithful readers know, Grace was born subsequently to her older sister Sophie's death. (It pleases me to notice that in the upper left corner of the photo of Ed holding Grace, is another photograph of Anna holding her newborn baby sister Sophie.)

Grace came and helped us heal. I smile like the sun when I think about that day. Happy Birthday, dear Grace!

Photographs taken by Fay McClurg