for maddie

I read a blog on Fridays called Inverse Candlelight, and she had a photo of this darling little girl posted. And she caught my eye because she's just so darn cute! Then I read further and discovered that last week this little girl unexpectedly - died. And I haven't been able to think about much else since. Her name was Madeline Alice Spohr -Maddie- and her mama Heather is a hysterical master blogger who has been chronicling her and her husband Mike's experiences at www.thespohrsaremultiplying.com with a difficult pregnancy, 3 month premature baby, and the joy and happiness they experienced being her parents.

Then quite unexpectedly last week - gone.
I cry now as I type.

Perhaps it's my "condition" or the fact that Maddie and my niece Naiya are about the same age, but this family's story has really hit me hard and deep.
If you'd like to help them somehow, you can donate to the March of Dimes in honor of Maddie here or contribute to a fund to help Heather and Mike here .

my darling mother-in-law

My mother-in-law Linda Jones sent a note in the mail

and I wanted to share it with you because,

well, it made me cry like a baby.

She wrote,

"You can kiss your family and friends goodbye

and put miles between you,

but at the same time you carry them with you

in your heart, your mind, your stomach,

because you do not just live in a world,

but a world lives in you."