So many things in my head today – many about Mom and Dad. I suppose it’s because in a few days Mom will have been gone for four years. Rather than be sad, I would like to celebrate her life. I know Papa won’t be jealous. In fact, I’m quite sure he will join my little memory party. For starters, here is an early recollection. Mom was slender and small boned. She loved to rock in her special rocking chair. I don’t know where they got the one she had when we were growing up, but it sat two – as long as you were only as wide as Mom.…

It was a beautiful autumn day. One where the sun seems to fire the burnished leaves with hidden light. The sky was as blue as a sapphire, and the temperature just cool enough to encourage exploration. This day marked a turning point, had she but known it. It was the first time in her entire life where she had been, as they say, “on her own” like this. There was no one to tell her where to go or what to do. It was Saturday, and her workload was caught up…and here she was, by herself in Washington, D.C. There was a vaguely uneasy sensation in the pit of her…

As anyone who knows me will tell you, I’m not a “numbers” kind of girl. However, this one – this seemingly bland 1467 is powerful. I have a fondness for it today because it is a number of days that are significant in my life. Let me tell you why. This not because I’m marking off on a wall calendar or anything, I just happened to have accidentally reset my Bible app the morning of my surgery, and ever since then it has been tallying up the days that have passed. Every day when I log in, I glance at the number and thank God for the gift of life…