Scarlett is the light of my life. She is a renaissance. Every minute with her adds years to my life. I know Mars feels the same way & Alison is mom#2.

Blessing 3 is of course Alison. We always planned for Amanda to be an only child and then when I was 34 we changed our mind. When Alison was born Mars and I said wait we had that baby already. She looked exactly like Amanda and then the dimple in her cheek showed and we could see the difference. By the time she was  3 days old there were all sorts of differences. Alison was the quiet, shy child. Her report cards always said the teacher wished she would talk more! She had a lot to say she was just quiet about it. She started playing sports at 4 and it was her life for a long while. Many of her coaches said she was the funniest person they ever met once she knew you well enough to let you know what she was thinking. She is fiercely loyal and fiercely private. Alison is a joy to everyone in her life. She is going to be a fabulous teacher. She takes pedagogy very, very seriously. Makes me feel like a slacker. She is a blessing to us all.

Blessing 2 Amanda

Obviously it will take me 5 years to post 365 entries but what the heck. Blessing 2 ( in chronological order), is Amanda. She was the best of children; she was the worst of children. I never believed in love at first sight before she was born (lust, yes.. see blessing #1) From the moment she was born I was lost. I adored my baby girl from the very first. Amanda was the busiest, most high maintenance child ever. She never slept, she wasn't interested in food & she needed constant attention. She still does. She is also the most creative, exciting, energetic person ever.She is endlessly curious. We share a love of English history, Jane Austin, music and sci fi. She is the perpetual life of the party. She is like a gravity well that catches other's in her wake. She throws herself into anything she does 150% which means she does a great job at whatever she puts her mind to but she has to be careful to recharge her own batteries.You want to plan a party, prom, wedding  or vacation, Amanda is your best bet. Sometimes the rest of us have to put our respective feet down and say it is time to rest now! Scarlett is going to be the child who says "my mommy tires me out".

Day 1

I am not a glass half full of person. I am more the glass is half empty and we are dying of dehydration person. As if worrying about possibilites will make them better,(Actually, some of my scientific friends tell me glass is always full, half water & half air!) I have read and heard that it is good for the soul to express gratitude every day for those good things in our lives.So it is my intent to verbalize or rather write, something everyday that I am grateful for.
Probably won't be every day but I'll try. Now the question is what goes first. My family of course but where to start. Scarlett seems the onbvious choice but.... It is incredubly stressful for me to even contemplate putting one family memeber before another. My parents were adamant that parents can't prefer one child over another. I could try chronologically or alphabetically( of course I got stuck in the A's).

On the theory of age before beauty I'll start with Mars, my husband of 33 years. In all this time I have never met anyone more interesting than he is. We've had our ups and downs; we've learned to compromise or pretend to, we have raised our wonderful daughters and he has worked so very hard to take care of us.I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that he loves me. He is much more sentimental than I.I can honestly say I have never looked at another man and thought I would be better off with him. After 33 years that's OK. I hope he can say the same.