Last Sunday, we met up with some friends and went to Maulbronn to see the Easter Egg Market.

 
Germans make a big deal about Easter and combine many Orthodox traditions with their own (think:  red eggs everywhere!), and mix in ancient Pagan customs, too.  The mix of Earth Spirituality and Judeo-Christianity is interesting, and so different than the States.

We met up after church, so Skye had on her very de rigueur cloche, and her bunny coat (of course!) and we were proud to show her off.  The Germans loved her, proclaiming her to be “so süß!” at every turn. (Sweet? Yes, she certainly is.)

She is growing so fast.  She is all clear, ice-blue eyes, pink skin, sweet breath and breathless squeals.   

Yesterday, we saw what we had been feeling for days – her first tooth – on the bottom, just right of center.  She is a little whimpery, a little irritable, but she responds well to cuddling and kisses and me stroking her face and hair over and over, gently and quietly.  The way this little one stares at you when you talk to her is just amazing – a still, calm demeanor that I’m thankful she seems to have inherited from her lovely birthmother.   I am also so thankful for a bond that we seem to share already, namely that when she is most distressed the one who can soothe her is Mama. 

We’re cherishing this year, these first milestones.   

We sure love our girl.

* Pictures courtesy of our friend, Lisa. 

Auntie C.C. came to visit – a spur-of-the-moment, deliciously unforeseen and all-too-brief visit, but a visit nonetheless.

She knew just what to do and say to our girl to make her giggle –

- and it was so great to catch up, even if it only lasted for an evening.

So, now, it’s bedtime, and she’s gone – but we miss her already.

“It is only rarely that one can see in a little boy the promise of a man, but one can almost always see in a little girl the threat of a woman.” ~Alexandre Dumas

In just a few years, this young girl is going to take the world by storm.

I’m over in the Desert again; John is at home.

He is wandering around the house “looking for things I can help you with, Hol.”

This behavior makes me nervous.

Case in point: He found the stash of wedding pictures that I Still. Haven’t. Made. Into. An. Album.

We got married nearly eight years ago, People. (I know.  Please don’t judge me.)

You know, we had a great wedding. It was a small wedding, but I cannot think of a single person up until that time who was alive and who was an important part of our lives who wasn’t there to share our day.  It was the kind of wedding you wait for a long time, but know you waited for the right person…all of us were relaxed, full of laughter, and nobody got too crazy.

Here’s a pic John sent me for the album. “Me-n-my girls” were vamping for the camera, when we spotted this clown (I kid you not) walking up the main street. I got married in Manitou Springs, which has that delightful crunchy vibe that I absolutely love. So, we looked at each other and figured we ought to wave our Freak Flags right along with him.

Because we had the world’s most easygoing photographers, when I asked the clown to join us, Becky just took it in stride…and snapped what is one of my favorite pictures of the day:

But the man who really brought the house down?

Had to be my dear “Godfather,” Rusty Sachs…an irreverent, brilliant, hilarious Marine who speaks fluent French, has impeccable taste and bearing, and who has been a fixture in my life since I’ve been alive. He and his entire family are…well, Family.

Rusty agreed to marry us, and my request was for him to use free license when he wrote our vows. I have a copy of them somewhere – but one of my favorite lines, which Rusty delivered in the most serious tone after warning John that he was not marrying some “piece of common chattel,” was

“Do you, Holly, take John, to your wedded husband –

- in Flowers and in Weeds…in Freezing and in Swelter?”

Yeah, I couldn’t keep a straight face, either.

I just love that guy. And I love Rusty, too.

For close to two years, these two have kept me laughing. Rach with her irreverent humor that is always, always appropriate and always perfect in its delivery…and Marty with his incredible stories – the only storyteller I’ve come across who’s better is my dad.

Last night, we had to say goodbye – and it was tough. Marty said once to us, “I don’t do goodbyes well.”

Well ok, then, Friend. It is not Goodbye.

It will be, instead: “See ya around, Marty, and Molon Labe.”

“It’s been swell.”

Yesterday, according to Rach, was “International Tiara Day”. Rach is the kind of friend who shows up with her cup of tea and sits in my office, looking calm, cool and fabulous just to have “a little chat” – and instantly makes my day better. Yesterday (we were at 8-days-to-go in the John-Returning-to-the-States Countdown) she showed up with a tiara in honor of Queen Victoria’s birthday.

We took a picture to commemorate it. She’s quirky and hilarious and more fun than anybody I know – I just love her. Did I already ask the question “HOW would I have made it without my friends this year?” ???

Great night with great girls. The longer I live, the more grateful I am.

But, and still … John was missed.

Spent last evening with these two, and their family…and those who have become my family…and our mutual friends.

As I was driving home from Orlando, thinking of my brief trip there – I was so built up by them – all of them.

I heard a song on the way home – the lyrics seem so appropriate for now: 

I’ve been a walking heartache
I’ve made a mess of me
The person that I’ve been lately
Ain’t who I wanna be.

But you stay here right beside me
Watch as the storm goes through –

And I need you.

On my own I’m only
Half of what I could be
I can’t do without you
We are stitched together
And what love has tethered
I could never undo

God gave me you for the Ups and Downs –

God gave me you for the Days of Doubt –

Oh, when I think I’ve lost my way …
There are no words here left to say, it’s true:

God gave me you.*

Love you guys.

* “God Gave Me You” – Dave Barnes

…for friends and family. There’s just nothing better in life.

This picture was taken at Armour’s wedding to Tanya, June 12th, a short week ago.

Armour’s buddies (two couldn’t make it) came in for his big day – and it was great to see them – all are responsible, caring, terrific men I’m proud to know.

Armour had two men speak for him that day – Dad, and Todd Carpenter.  During his toast to the couple, Todd mentioned how the bonds of that close group of guys in high school (the Posse) had formed him into the man he is today.  He made those of us who know him, cry.  It was a tribute to true friendship.

At the end, he said that Dad had a lot to do with that transformation too – during the weekly poker games at the Craig house with a bunch of teenaged boys.  Goes to show that the smallest things have influence.

“We learned a lot of Life Lessons around that poker table, Mr. Craig, “ he said.

So here’s to great friends traveling long distances for one of their own, poker, and my dad, Jim Craig. 

Thanks to all the wonderful men in my life who are father figures to me – among them Pete Conway, Bill Prohs, Bill Silkman, Rusty Sachs, Loren Mallory, John Oleson, Morris Thomason, Bill Marty, Bro. Jim Henry, Bunny Beeson and Pete Ballantine.

But mostly, props have to go to my dad.  He’s a mentor to so many, including me.