Memories For Sure

Three weeks ago when I was preparing for the arrival of my son and his two children I wrote that "new memories will be made which I hope will be so worthwhile that we can pull them out again and again to enjoy in all the years to come." David and Julian left last Saturday, and today I am taking Gabi as far as Hickory, NC to meet her Dad and go home. It has been a wonderful three weeks, but especially having time this last week with just Gabi has been a joy. We didn't get to do everything I had hoped we would. And some things we tried to do were a bust, like photographing colorful water droplets and getting a bubble photographed so it would look like a planet. We didn't get to go out for a second night of light painting either with my newly purchased LED light stick. But we did read together and watch several things on TV. We did a lot of girl talk and discussed the difficulties of growing up and becoming more independent. We even talked about politics. She tried a lot of new foods and told me tonight that she had liked all of them, probably more some than others I think. She was a helper, often doing something before being asked. And never once when I needed her to help did she complain. Each morning I was usually met with her sunny smile. Both of my cats learned to love her attentions, even to the extent that Boo slept with her one night. I am going to miss her a lot. And tomorrow when I get home the house will be especially empty. Both of us can't wait til next summer. But the memories of this summer will be with us always and I am sure are ones that we will pull out again and again to enjoy.(Today's picture was taken last week during our light painting adventure when she was trying to write her name with light. I can make out some of the letters in her name, but I love the abstractness of this image. The lines at the bottom are the reflections of the light playing on the water of the pond in front of which we were playing with the lights.)