:: that boy o’ mine took his little birthday brother for fries and a shake today…and william is sitting here next to me telling me all about it…
and he says that…
“when i’ya said if i wanted a “large fry”…
i thought he meant one really big fry…
but then i figured out that it was actually a tons of fries!”
so thankful he’s making memories with these little guys!
dear miss elaini,
what a sweet birthday surprise…finding you at our door!
you…bearing chocolates!
and a sweet note…
after you left…i popped one of those chocolates right into my mouth…
and i just giggled…out loud…at the words on the back of the pouch…
that silly boy o’ mine reading with emphasis…
“do you dream in chocolate? then discover (chocolate’s name) and enjoy a moment that is yours: when you break (chocolate’s name’s) delicate chocolate shell, the irresistibly smooth filling starts to melt, gently caressing all your senses and taking you to a place where chocolate dreams come true.”
oh…my…goodness! could that really be true!?!
how i wish we would’ve read that while you were still here…so i could’ve shared that giggle with you!
and then i just smiled…at the words in your note…
such a sweet note…
what a truly sweet birthday it’s been…sweeter than any ol’ chocolate!
yes…it’s true! even chocolate!
so much love showered on me by so many!
and…oh, how i thank Him for that 40…plus another whole one…
and for chocolates…
and for loved ones…
like sweet little you!
very sincerely,
me
to whom it may concern,
today marks one year! one whole year since i sat down and started putting words down here!
which also means…in not-too-many days from now…i’ll be having another birthday…
that 40…plus another whole one!
which makes me just want to eat chocolate…
though i’m not entirely sure why…
so i got to thinking about nummy chocolate…
and i got to remembering those nummy chocolates that the mama to the west’s mama spoiled us with one time…those amazing chukar cherry ones…
and i thought to my self, “self…you should get some of those nummy chocolates for you for your birthday! and, hey! self! wouldn’t it be so fun to get some extra…and share them…with all of the amazing people who came here and read…and encouraged…and prayed…and who literally made this whole last year such an incredibly memorable one!?!”
but then…my self realized…“that’s a whole bunch of chocolates!”
so…i guess…i’ll just have to content myself with sharing just some…
with just some…one…
but if you like nummy chocolates…and you’d like to share some…and you’d like to just jump on here and say “hi! happy whole first one!”…
then i’ll just be so excited to toss you into my hat…
and i’ll just be so happy to wrestle that littlest and plunge his fist in…
and i’ll just be so…truly…thrilled if he plucks out your one!
‘cause it’s been an amazing year…
a truly…filled-with-the-absolutely-unexpected…one!
and i just want to say “thank you”…to every last one of you…who’ve loved on me all this way through it…
this whole first one…
very sincerely,
me
– bits sharin’ chocolates with mama! (august, 2005)
two
dear colleen,
it’s hard to believe…
but it’d been just shy of two decades when you pulled up to the farm last summer…
almost 20 years since that very first time we lugged us…and him…and all those props…up all those flights of stairs to your old warehouse loft down town…
him in his little uniform…with his daddy’s equipment…the little bench he’d built…and that chain link fence you just happened to have lying around!
alex…the little baseballer…
then 4 years later…up we trudged again…with her…and all of that frippery…and my poor honey loaded down with that enormous mirror!
emma…and the “dress ups”…
and again…after 3 years…my poor honey and those stairs! with the bandana her nana brought special from europe…the white picket fence her daddy constructed…the tools…the old wooden crate branded “challenge”…and the wheelbarrow!
hannah…the little gardener…
then 2 years…and the easiest trek of all…with just her…in her birthday suit…with only the little wings i’d fashioned…and the little copper halo her daddy’d pounded…
claire…the little christmas angel…
and then…20 months…and out to your garden full blooming…with its bees full buzzing…and your dear daddy helping us tote. with a handful of lemons…a juice-filled pitcher…that same crate…and the “lemonade 5¢” i’d scribbled with their crayon…
elisabeth…and the little lemonade stand…
and after 2¼ years…we came to you…from idaho! into the old cedar school-house…with that beautifully worn wood floor…his oshkosh railroad cap and overalls…the “crossing” sign…and that wonderfully well-used lantern…
jack…the little engineer…
and back again…in just 17 months…with a little slingshot i’d crafted from the willow in our idaho backyard…his daddy’s baseball…a nest from our beloved property…grampa calvin’s pocket knife…gramma mary’s blue ball jar with a “bug” in it…and gramma florence’s marbles…
william…and “boyhood” treasures…
and then…4 years and a bit…
and then…those almost 20 had passed…
and then…we found ourselves out on the farm…with the biggest prop yet!
gramma ruth’s favorite tractor…grampa bert’s work boots…that fancy new hat…and those same well-worn overalls that all of his siblings had donned for grubbies…that two of them had worn in their one-year-birthday picture…
eian…the little farmer…
and those two…always peaking out at me when i look at him…
her eyes…and his chin…
and you…always gracious…always accommodating!
always letting me…but mostly him…lug those props!
always letting me create…
always simply asking, “what would you like me to capture?”
and you did!
and it’s amazing, really…because we couldn’t have possibly known then…
they were all still so little!
but some truly did grow into their picture as their personalities took shape!
emma…our little girlie girl…
hannah…our little lover of flora and fauna…
jack…our little in-so-many-ways miniature of his train-loving papa…
and now eian…the truest little deardorff-hubbard of them all!
what a treasure these images are to us!
what a special…unique…place you’ve settled into in our lives…
just a truly special place!
for nearly as long as i’ve been a mama…you’ve been capturing their growing up…
helping us tell our story…
through all those one-year pictures…those family pictures…
and remember?
those “just for fun” ones! with just us two…bathed in light from those massive loft windows…four-year-little alex in his flannel plaid pajama bottoms…and me in that little white cotton nightgown…all full round with emma!
oh, colleen…how grateful we are for you!
how very much i just wanted to say…thank you!
very sincerely,
me
– colleen’s images of our little farmer on his one-year birthday (august 22, 2012)…post sneak peak!
dear gramma florence,
nine years ago today, we got that call…the one that said you’d left us…
two years before…on your birthday…claire noel was born…
how delighted you were to have a birthday buddy!
how delighted you were to share the story of your birth…
of how…in the wee hours of that 1918 christmas morn…your overjoyed, eight-year-old sister ran right out of the house…and right down the street…heralding the news of your birth with a “joy to the world…the Lord has come!”
how delighted you were about…anything!
just any old thing!
what an incredible example you were…
of how to live…
of how to love…
just truly so absolutely wonderfully!
just truly so absolutely delight…filled!
when we gathered to say good-bye to you…your boy…our grampy…asked, “would you say something?”…
so little clairie and i stood at the front…and we read the card you’d given to welcome her…
“love to a beautiful, sweet baby girl.
claire noel…who was born on my birthday…christmas morning.
it’s such a special day to be born on…the same day as the baby Jesus.
much love, great grandma florence”
and we told that sweet story of alice announcing your birth…
and we sang it all together…just for the sweet memory of you…
and this christmas…grampy and grammy…and all these kids…and jason and me…
we all sat by the fire and sang some carols…especially that one…
and every time…every single time…we sing that song…
i’m just…filled…with the most delightfully sweet memory of you!
very sincerely,
me
thirteen
