Even On The Rainiest Day...

Kylynn Aria

   Over the past month I have managed to cross off a number of items on my "bucket list". The biggest of those has to be seeing my Kylynn Aria make her First Communion. When I was first diagnosed and sat looking at my sweet girl, who then was only a year and a half old, it broke my heart to think about all the events in her life that I may never get to see. Her First Communion, her Confirmation, her high school and college graduations, her wedding, the birth of any babies she may have. It's a long list and I still worry about seeing many of these things, but I feel so blessed that I was there to see my baby make her First Communion. When I traveled to Medjugorje all those years ago in 2007 the only thing my Aria asked me to bring her was a pink rosary. I picked out the cutest pink rosary that I could find and brought it home to her. But my mom and I also searched all over that small village buying all the different pink rosaries that we could find because I wanted to have them to give to Kylynn on all the big occasions that she had ahead of her. When I brought those rosaries home it was hard to imagine that I would ever get to hand my Ari one. She was so small then and her First Communion seemed a lifetime away. I cannot begin to tell you what a joy it was to put that first rosary in her hands and telling her the story of how I looked all of Medjugorje for these special rosaries for her. Kylynn may not have understood the huge significance of the moment, and that's okay, she will remember it when she is older and understand. But for now, I knew what a big deal it was and that's enough. Another special thing about Kylynn's First Communion is that we had my wedding dress made over into a communion gown for her. It turned out beautifully and looked like a smaller version of my dress. Kylynn also wore my veil.

Kylynn and Me

   These last two items that recently got crossed off of my list are, in the grand scheme of things, smaller, but still very important to me. By now you must know of my love for the singing group Celtic Thunder and the delight that they bring me. I have previously had the opportunity to meet most of the guys in the group but the two that I have wanted to meet the most, Ryan and Neil, have managed to elude me... until recently. As luck would have it, these to talented and not bad looking men teamed up to play at some smaller venues with their Acoustic By Candlelight tour. Last weekend that tour brought them through the Chicago area and I was able to see them two nights in a row!  After the show the guys took time to meet with everyone, take pictures, and sign pictures and, in my case, a shirt for my Aria. So that was one item checked off my list.

Neil, Me, & Ryan!

Neil & Ryan holding a message for Kylynn

Life has been busy, as usual. I feel like I have been constantly running all over with Kylynn, taking her to her various different activities. One place that I recently took Kylynn was to see a seamstress and talk with her about getting my wedding dress made into a First Communion gown. It sounds like the woman we talked with is going to be able to make a beautiful gown for Kylynn, I am excited about that, but looking at my wedding dress got me thinking. I started thinking about Kylynn and her wedding day, someday in the future, if that is what she chooses, and I was, once again, wondering if I would be here to see that day. Then I started thinking that there was a time that I would look at my little girl and wonder if I would get to see her First Communion, and here we are, planning for it, looking forward to it.

In 2007 I made a journey half way around the world to a tiny village named Medjugorje and the one thing my, then 3 year old, Kylynn asked me to bring her home was a pink rosary. I came home with many pink rosaries with the thought that she would receive one for each of the big events in her life along with a letter from me, if I wasn't here. The first one that I planned for her to receive was one for her First Communion and I honestly didn't feel with any certainty that I would be here to give it to her myself. Yet here I am. My little girl is 7 years old now and I will be here to give her that pink rosary at her First Communion. I can't even begin to tell you how happy that makes me. Those pink rosaries hold so much meaning for me now. Each one is a milestone for Kylynn, an event I dearly want to be present for, and each rosary is a challenge daring me to fight harder. I will be so happy to give Kylynn that first pink rosary, but I will be ecstatic to give her the last one, to know I was present for so many big events in her life.

Another couple of little things came about in the midst of my everyday hustle and bustle whose significance would be easy to overlook, they are such commonplace occurrences, but I was lucky enough to reflect at the right moment and thereby see the wonder.

First, ever since I started playing the harp I thought about what a cool thing it would be to play Kylynn to sleep, to have her want me to play her to sleep. But things rarely work out the rosy way we imagine them, 7 year olds have their own agendas, bedtimes fall into set routines, and harp practice gets pushed off to times after Kylynn is asleep. A few nights ago, though, Kylynn was very insistent about falling asleep in my bed and then having me move her to her bed later. I argued a bit about this with her stating that I needed to practice my harp (it's in my room) and Kylynn simply replied that she liked listening to me play and that she would go to sleep and not argue or talk if I just let her stay in my bed and listen to the harp. I eventually agreed and, indeed, Kylynn kept her word and went to sleep without further talking or argument, but it wasn't until later that I realized that life had handed me a small gift, I got to play Kylynn off to sleep on my harp.

The second small thing that happened was that Kylynn had her first sleepover with at friend at our house this weekend. Again, this seems such a commonplace event that I almost missed the significance in it. Laying in bed last night I recalled a somewhat tearful conversation I had with one of my sisters about 4 years ago. I asked that, if something happened to me, she would allow Kylynn to have sleepovers with friends from time to time at her house as I thought parents might shy away from allowing their daughters to sleepover at the house of a friend with a single dad. My sister, of course, agreed and we moved forward with life. Saturday night as I sat, covered in glitter and paint, making crafts with two giggling 7 year old girls, I didn't see it, but here was another small gift, another event I feared I would never live to see. I am blessed.

And so you see, even on the rainiest day, in the midst of the muck and disguised as the everyday, there are small things, gifts and blessings, that really aren't small at all. We just have to learn to be still long enough to see and recognize them.

I can't tell you how many times, upon learning that I have cancer, people have said something to the effect of, "But you look so good! I never knew!" And while I appreciate the compliment and am truly grateful that I don't look like what people imagine a cancer patient should look like, it serves as a constant reminder to me that you never can tell about a person just by their outside.

Awhile back this miraculous thing happened and I never mentioned it. I got an e-mail from a young woman who is fighting this same horrible cancer. Now imagine my surprise because there just aren't that many of us with this cancer, let alone young women. But there Harmony was, and we instantly fell into a friendship and formed a bond that I have no words for. And so Harmony and I talk through e-mail and enjoy each others blog posts. And one day, I hope to get to actually meet my friend, Harmony.

Now lately, I have been having a bit of a hard time. Cancer-wise things are looking pretty stable but for many other small reasons (so many of which can be tied back to cancer) I have been very stressed and been having a lot of anxiety. So I talked with my friend, Harmony, and that always helps. I know that down in Texas there is someone who is in a position so similar to mine that I know she can really sympathize with what I'm going through. I know that down in Texas there is a prayer being lifted up for me.

Then last week a small padded envelope showed up in my mail addressed to me and inside it was this beautiful little angel wing necklace and this note: "I have the same necklace - put this on, remember how strong you are, and trust in God to take care of you. Your body and God are a force to be reckoned with!!" My sweet friend, Harmony, had sent me this thoughtful physical encouragement to remind me that even on the rainiest days, there are friends who are standing in the same downpour that you are and that when it all seems like too much, they are there to lean on and sometime to, literally, bring you a wing and a prayer to help fly you out of your anxieties.

My dear friend, Harmony, I have said it before and I'll say it again now, I wish that you didn't have this horrible cancer, I wish no one did. But since you do have to have it, and so do I, I am so glad that we have found each other. We're going to make it, you and I, and we are going to change the way people look at cholangiocarcinoma!

It's not something that I like to admit, but things have been kind of rough lately. This new chemo sort of sucks. I feel like I have done little else but run back and forth from Mayo for treatment and the hospital here for blood work. The chemo makes me quite tired, it has been messing with my blood counts, my arms are bruised, I'm nauseous, and I have circles under my eyes like I've never seen before. And that's just the chemo stuff. Kylynn has been, to put it mildly, challenging lately. Christmas is rapidly approaching and I have lots left to do. And then there is the everyday stuff that has to get done. I am stressed and anxious. I honestly don't remember being quite this stressed for a long time. Stressed enough that I am sleeping poorly and having nightmares which is unusual. BUT whenever I am feeling a bit overwhelmed, whether it is 2 in the afternoon or 2 in the morning, I have taken to picking up a gift that a very sweet friend gave to me. It is a small book titled There's No Place Like Hope by: Vickie Girard. It was a gift that my friend, Katie, gave to me when I got together with her on my Nashville trip. It's not a new book and that, I think, makes it even more special. The book used to belong to Katie's mother who was battling cancer, and it was given to Katie's mother by yet another cancer warrior. Katie became the owner of this little book when her mother passed away and that she, Katie, parted with that little bit of her mother because she felt it was important that I have it makes the gift beyond precious and my friendship with Katie priceless! And look at the book, it has been well loved! The cover is worn in places, it has stains and faded spots, the inside has passages that have been highlighted and pages that have been dog-eared. That tells me that the other women who owned this book loved it too. This book has character and history. I love items like this, they are fuel for my imagination! So when I am most stressed I love picking up this book and reading bits. Or sometimes I just hold the book and think about the women who owned it before me. I think about them, in their own tough times, holding this same book, and that gives me strength. And then I think about Katie and, because she is so much like me, I know she must realize what a special gift the book is, but I marvel that she cares enough about me to give me such a precious thing that belonged to her mom. It just goes to show that even on the rainiest day, when cancer looms dark overhead and stress and anxiety press in on all sides, there are things that can offer great comfort and strength through their history and character and, more importantly, there are friends who place these things in our hands and offer us their unfailing love and support.

Even though my birthday is in September and I knew about my present in August, my gift arrived last Thursday evening sandwiched between two trips up to Mayo Clinic for chemo treatments. As noted in an earlier post, my daughter and I have been long time fans of the singing group Celtic Thunder. This past Wednesday Kylynn and I made our way down to my sister's house in Tennessee and on Thursday evening we took our places in the front row of a Celtic Thunder concert. Yes, front row, that was my gift. Well, that and being able to share the experience with my little Aria, and what an experience it was!

Kylynn and I arrived in down town Nashville quite early before the 7:30 performance so we set off for a bit of a walk around the area to see what we could see. The concert was at the TPAC, The Tennessee Performing Arts Center, and as we walked around the building Kylynn was quick to spy the Celtic Thunder equipment trucks parked in the loading dock. Kylynn was excited about seeing the trucks and would have likely enjoyed watching them being unloaded, but being that they were parked inside a garage like structure watching was not possible. So we continued around the building. Turning the corner we were greeted with the sight of all of the tour buses lined parked along the side of the building. I explained to Kylynn that the guys were on those buses and she literally stopped in her tracks and stared. "Damian is on one of those buses?", my little girl asked in amazement. (Damian is Kylynn's favorite in the group) I told her that indeed he likely was and this started Kylynn wondering what Damian might be doing right then as we were walking by. Of course, knowing that she was in such close proximity to 5 people that she idolizes also made Kylynn quite nervous and she asked if we could move away from the buses. And so we continued our stroll around the area.

This part of our walk took us into a bit of a surprise and our only non-Celtic Thunder related part of our evening. Kylynn and I decided to try to find a place to sit and rest for a bit and this led us to some benches that are located across the street from the Hermitage Hotel. As we settled ourselves we noticed a group of about 5-6 people standing across the street from the hotel holding multiple hockey related items, wearing New Jersey Devils jerseys, and staring at the entrance to the hotel as if waiting for something. My little brother, Jeff, is a huge Devils fan and, consequently, so is Kylynn. She recognized the jerseys right away and asked what the people were doing. Now, I enjoy hockey but I had no idea if the Devils were in town for a game or not, so I got on the phone. I tried my brother first and got no answer so I called my sister, Amy. She looked it up and indeed the Devils were in town for a game that evening. So we sat and watched the people who were watching the hotel. Within about 10 minutes 5-6 men in suits emerged from the hotel and the Devils fans descended upon them. I don't know the players by sight, I tend to need them in uniform with their names across their backs to recognize them, but by the actions of the others I was fairly certain we were looking at some of Jeff's and Kylynn's favorite players. We had nothing really for them to sign and Kylynn was being shy about going over by them, but we had a good time watching. And then Kylynn said, "Maybe they're here to see Celtic Thunder!" I told her that I was fairly certain that they were here to play a hockey game, but her comment made me laugh. By this time the sun was starting to go down, we were becoming a bit chilly, and so we set off to get our coats from the car and eat some dinner.

So Kylynn has been asking me for quite awhile when she can start to learn to play the harp. I had decided, after talking with my harp teacher, that I would start teaching her myself and when she get a little bigger I would start formal lessons. So earlier this week I ordered a book of harp music/lessons that Carl, my harp teacher, recommended and yesterday it arrived at my home. Kylynn spotted the book first thing this morning and, once she realized the book was for her, has done little else except sit and play the harp with me, or ask endlessly if we can play the harp again. While I love that she is loving it so much and that she is so good (so far) about taking instruction from me, it is a bit exhausting. But still, she is so darn cute and so excited.

In any case, I fear that Ashe is no longer just mine. Though he is bigger than Kylynn is she has claimed him as hers as well and explained to me that I will have to share so that she can practice. But even though I will have too share my beloved harp, I am happy. I am very happy that Kylynn wants to play the harp because her mommy plays the harp. And I am glad that she wants mommy to teach her. So you see, even on the rainiest days, there is sunlight that our children bring with their enthusiasm, joy, and flattery in wanting to be like us.

I know I haven't posted for awhile and I am feeling really bad about that. I promise that I will write something new soon, you know I always have something to say, but, for tonight, I am going to re-post something that I had on my blog on MySpace. I originally wrote this post on November 13, 2006, not quite a year after I was diagnosed. My original post was titled "Wanderlust".

It's an odd thing, to sit here at 30 years old and wonder if the bulk of my years on this earth are now behind me. It really is strange. And facing the possibility that your death may be closer at hand than you would like, brings with it many things, absolute terror for one. Also there is sadness, regret, grief, an odd sort of loneliness, and a glimpse of all the things I may not have time to do or see. But past that is a clarity that I never knew before. It's an odd thing. All these things I will, no doubt, eventually write about, but tonight, ah tonight, my heart is filled with wanderlust…

There are SO many places that I long to experience. And now I may not ever get to see them, but I hope that my sweet Aria, my Kylynn, has enough of her momma's heart to yearn for these places as she grows. And then I may yet get to see them with her eyes.

I want to go to Ireland. It has a pull on me like no where else. I want to see the castles and country sides. I want to walk along the Cliffs of Moher in Clare and breathe the ocean air. I want to visit the Aran Islands. I wish to explore Connemara. And how I would love to stand on the Giant's Causeway in Antrim and watch the sun come up. Ireland.

And then there is Morocco, Marrakech in particular. I so want to experience Djemma el Fna, the "Night Market". The sights and sounds! I can almost smell the cinnamon, taste the orange juice, and see the storytellers and other performers in the square. I am not one who often wants to try odd food, but I want to taste all that Djemma el Fna has to offer. And the just outside of Djemma el Fna , I can imagine the stalls, or souqs, of vendors filled with Moroccan men and women to haggle with over pretty baubles to bring home for my family. And then I wouldn't be opposed to a trip the Fes just for the heck of it. An ancient city, tombs and a palace can't be all bad! Yes, Morocco, I long to walk your streets.

Egypt, not far from Morocco, but it holds a different place in my heart. I long for Egypt. I swear I must have been Egyptian in another life. I can so clearly visualize so many places. Karnak, Luxor, Thebes. I see them so clearly, now I want to walk them. To touch the stone of the cities, to stand in the temples, to just taste the hot desert air. And Alexandria, and Cairo… Oh how I want to see Egypt.

There are so, so many places I want to see and so many things I want to do. I hope that I have the good fortune to be able to do and see at least a little of what's in my heart. And what I cannot, I hope that my little girl has an adventurer's spirit and the odd gift of this wanderlust to see the rest for me.

I do love that post. I love it for many reasons. First, all of those places still have a pull on me. I love just thinking about them! Second, that post, though it was not at all my intention, sent me and Eric on our way to Ireland in October of 2007. My sister, Julia, and her husband, Kelly, read my post and rallied my family and friends to fund a trip for us to see some of Ireland. And what an amazing gift that was! I got to see the Cliffs of Moher. I got to walk about Connemara. And I got to stand on The Giant's Causeway, which was my most favorite part of our trip. I got to see much of Ireland and perhaps someday I will take my little girl there. And I love that post because it speaks of my hope that at least a little of me is in my daughter and that someday she will look out over all the places that I didn't get to see and smile knowing that I am with her always and that all is well.

And so, my friends, even on the rainiest day, there are dreams of beautiful places, memories of what we have seen and experienced, and the hope that those we love will always carry a piece of us with them no matter what the future brings.

This post has been floating around my head for a long time but due to health issues hasn't made it to the blog until now. Sorry about that.

Celtic Thunder. An extraordinary group of five guys from Ireland and Scotland who have joined together under Phil Coulter and Sharon Browne to form and outstanding singing group. Kylynn and I are big fans. We watch the DVD together. In the car Kylynn always demands to listen to Celtic Thunder on my Ipod, she requests specific songs and sings along, sometimes she sings along in Gaelic. We talk about the five guys in the group as though we know them and call them by their first names. Kylynn actually has given nicknames to two of them. George she calls Georgie and Damian, her favorite in the group, she very affectionately calls Dami. We love Celtic Thunder and so when I saw that they were going to be in Illinois, and not too terribly far away on their spring tour this year, I looked into getting tickets.

I managed to get three tickets, for mom, Kylynn, and myself, and on April 24th we drove up to Waukegan, IL to see our boys. The whole night was a blast! Kylynn was SO excited about actually seeing Celtic Thunder live on stage, but she really hasn't been to any concerts so had no idea what to expect. Sitting in our seats before the show started we were all already having a great time. Kylynn had gotten her Damian t-shirt and her show program and was happy as a clam sitting, looking at the pictures in the program, and having mommy read to her about the guys. And I must say that Celtic Thunder fans, at least where I was sitting (with the exception of two weirdos in front of us), are the nicest fans in the world. Everyone was talking with us and were so nice to Kylynn. One lady sitting next to my mother (who, after learning that the lady was from Minnesota, told her about me and our frequent trips to MN.) has actually kept in touch with my mom and has sent sweet gifts for Kylynn ( a little Irish stuffed bear and another Damian t-shirt!). So before the show even started, again with the exception of Mr. and Mrs. Probably-on-a-day-pass-from-a-psychiatric-hospital sitting in front of us, we were having so much fun. Then the lights in the theatre went down and Kylynn's eyes got huge just taking everything in. She was awed by the lights and the sounds and the mist but nothing can top the moment when she saw the guys come out on stage. Now, like I said, Kylynn loves Celtic Thunder, and like anything that Kylynn is interested in, she has a lot of information about them. She has seen their first DVD a million times, plus she knows each guy's voice just by listening to it. So whenever there was something different in the show than it was on the DVD Kylynn was quick to point it out and ask why. Like I said, she loves Damian and came to the show already knowing that his voice would be different than on the DVD (he was 14 when the DVD was recorded, he is 16 now and his voice has gotten deeper) but the look of excitement of her face when she heard him sing at the show for the first time was just priceless! I have to say that I was a little worried about Kylynn being able to sit though both acts of the show, especially since it was way past her bed-time, but she was so enthralled by the guys that she did excellent! I probably had as much fun watching Kylynn watch the show as I did watching the show myself.

That's not to say that the show wasn't excellent on it's own, it was, it really was. The guys are just fabulous and I enjoyed hearing and seeing my boys live and seeing and hearing the changes that they made for this tour. I love all the guys and think they all are so amazingly gifted, but I have to say that I enjoy Ryan probably the most. He is intriguing and his stage presence is just incredible. I could listen to Ryan sing "Desperado" all day and I am always amused by his song "Heartbreaker", never fails to make me smile. He also sang "Ride On", a song that I enjoy and think he sings very well, but also one that cracks me and Kylynn up because Ryan does this odd squatty stance and arm movement in it (check out the DVD you'll see what I mean). Don't get me wrong, Kylynn and I like it and it works with the song and especially with Ryan's stage personality, but on the 24th Ryan did the "squatty arm thing" no less than 4 times in the song, maybe more. Awesome! Makes me giggle just thinking of it. Thanks Ryan!!! He did, also, sing "Every Breath You Take" which he sang fabulously, but will always be thought of as "the stalker song" in my mind. Sorry Ryan, but even Sting admits that it's a bit of a creepy song. Keith, also a favorite of mine, has a voice and personality that I just adore. He sang "Castles in the Air" just beautifully but I, honestly, miss him singing "Mountains of Mourne". I love the way he sings that song and I could just listen to it over and over. Keith also had some other wonderful numbers in the show. I love him singing "The Island" and "I Want To Know What Love Is" and he also performed "Lauren and I" which he wrote himself. And then there is Paul, who is also a favorite, and he has a voice that is just incredible! He is a classically trained tenor and his range is just spectacular! He sang "Love Thee Dearest" and "Remember Me" with all the power and emotion that is on the DVD, but what really knocked my socks off was Paul singing "You Raise Me Up", wow! He had the crowd on it's feet for that one. Paul also seemed to be in a particularly playful mood the evening of the 24th and he just cracked me up the way he joked with the audience and the other guys. Well done Paul! And George (or as Kylynn would say, Georgie) was fabulous too, he is also a favorite (are you sensing a trend here?). George has this beautiful deep voice and I just adore it! He sang "Yesterday's Men" and did it so well! He also sang "My Boy" which I love but always makes me cry. But what brought down the house was George singing "500 Miles" by the Proclaimers. I would walk 500 miles just to hear Georgie sing that song again, it was wonderful, George at his very best! And last, but certainly not least, there is Damian (or in Kylynn's world, Dami), who is Kylynn's favorite but also beloved by me as well. This kid, he's only 16, has a voice that I am not sure how he contains in his body. Such a powerful, beautiful, and now deep, voice! Damian, charmed us all with his versions of "Happy Birthday Sweet 16" and "Breaking Up Is Hard To Do". Damian is just so adorable when he sings, and as I tell Kylynn, I just want to pick him up and put him in my pocket he is so cute! But the two songs that Damian sang that I really love are "Bird Without Wings", which makes me cry but is just gorgeous, and "Come By The Hills" which is a song I have always loved. Damian starts off "Come By The Hills" in Gaelic and I love that, more than that, I love that Kylynn can sing almost that entire first verse in Gaelic as well. Also, the song, "Come By The Hills" ends each verse of the song with the words, "...and the cares of tomorrow can wait 'til this day is done." I love that. I would like to say I live each day like that but it would be a lie. What I can say though is that for that one night, the 24th of April at Celtic Thunder, all the cares of tomorrow did wait because I was busy having a great time with my little girl and my mom. Thank you Celtic Thunder!

*This just in* If you want a little sample of what we saw at the show go here and watch the clip. Then, if you like, follow the link at the bottom of the page and go pre-order your own copy!

And so, even on the rainiest day, there are people and events that can take us outside of our own troubles, even if just for a short time, and carry us away to happier things and give us moments to remember forever!

It has always been a dream of mine to become a knight or a pirate or BOTH. The knight thing I think has to do with the time period and the fact that I'd really like a horse and a sword. The pirate thing I think really has more to do with the ship. I want to sail! I want to sail on a big ship, two masts at least. Of course, if I was a pirate, I don't think I would settle for less than being the captain. Oh, and I get a sword as a pirate too!

My daughter, Kylynn, has jumped right aboard with both of these dreams of mine and I love that. The thing that really makes me smile, though, is how absolutely possible Kylynn believes both the idea of being a pirate and being a knight are. She was just talking about this yesterday and she started off by saying, "Mommy, when we are pirates together..." And then later it was, "When we are knights after we are pirates..." I love that it is when with Kylynn and not if. Kids are great like that.

Kylynn has also been recruiting others to join us as knights and pirates. It is so much fun to listen to her talk to others about these things. It's great also because if we're going to have a large ship as pirates we're going to need a crew. And Kylynn is much like her mom when it comes to being a pirate, she wants to be in charge. She will invite people to be pirates on our ship (meaning hers and mine) and she will sometimes even try to assign them jobs like swabbing the deck or cooking.

But what I really enjoy is listening to Kylynn talk to other children about being a knight or a pirate. Yesterday Kylynn spent the day with her friend, Josh, and she invited him to be a pirate first. Now, Josh likes pirates, so Kylynn didn't have to sell him on the idea at all and they got right into making pirate plans. I didn't catch all the details but I know I heard something about treasure and I swear I heard the word scurvy in the conversation too. And then later in the day the invitation for Josh to be a knight came. Josh is less familiar with knights so Kylynn filled him in on all the details (and believe me, Kylynn has lots of knight details) and soon Josh was ready to sign up, especially if it meant he got a horse and a sword and shield. The conversation on knights went on and shifted a bit to being knights at the Medieval Times dinner/show. Kylynn was explaining to Josh that if they were knights there that their horses would stay at the castle but that they, as knights, would go home every night and sleep at their houses. Josh said that he would want to take his horse home with him which is where the conversation got most amusing. Kylynn kept telling Josh that the horses should stay at the castle and that way someone else would have to clean up their poop (not sure where that logic came from) and Josh kept saying that he wanted to take his horse home. Kylynn asked him how he would take the horse home and Josh said that the horse could go in his car. Kylynn quickly pointed out that a car was too small for a horse. Josh thought about this for a moment and then turned to me and said, "your car is bigger (I have a small SUV) than mine, could you bring my horse home for me?" I don't know why, but that just cracked me up. Kylynn, of course, had to tell him that the horse wouldn't fit in my car either. Their conversation went on after that, but I found it amusing that neither one thought about just riding their horses home.

The conversations that kids, especially my daughter, have never cease to amuse me. And I love that, while they are young, all things seem possible, even likely, to children. Knights and pirates... care to join us?

Even on the rainiest day anything is possible, even the possibility of being a knight or a pirate.