joy bucket

Eliana is simply a joy bucket. Everything in her being is celebratory and of the moment. We're coming down off of a three week family love fest where all of her grandparents graced her life with their lively and adoring presences. We also had auntie Hilary and will spend next week with auntie Kelli. All in all a tremendous, full time for our family. And there's something even more special about it when Eliana is visiting her people on her own turf. She can show them what's what. Like all things, "Mine" including, "My toilet."


She was so sweet with each and every one of our family members. She would talk to them and look them in the eye, make jokes that they would laugh at. There are so many stories and pictures to share from these days, but I'm fixated, at present, on the date. I just looked at my calendar. We've been living at Jeff's parents place for weeks now and I've been completely lost with time.

A month from now, Eliana will be two.
I don't even know what to say.


She is so long, so wordy, so expressive, so curly. Today she had a mini-reunion with Moanie. Watching them together was like watching two old friends. Moans ran down the street, arms outstretched and Eliana donned a huge grin and said in her most stately, refined tone, "Hello, Moanie!" She then proceeded to say, "Swing?" and brush past sweet Moana on the way to her swing (Moans handed the dis like a champ).

Later they were dancing naked to the ABC's, all spazzy spins and floppy hands. Casey and I shared one of many, could-they-be-any-more-rad smiles and I felt so settled, so at home. As amazing as it was to have our people here, it was exhausting. For both of us. I sense that Elie knows how precious each moment is, that people want to engage with her. She enjoys getting to know her grandparents better, knows that it makes me so happy to see her with them. But it was also extra exciting and extra full, making the familiarity of that moment in Casey's living room really stand out. The way she finds all her favorite toys over at the Massey house. The way my girlfriends and I so easily fall back into step.

So there are all these lives, all these layers. The world you were born into with all its neurosis and comfort and unconditionality. And the world you find yourself in. A small town with green hills. Easy going, straight up peeps. And a chicken, on the brink of her third year, just taking every single bit of it all in.