BamamaPancakes

When we were kids spending many summer beach days on 83rd Street in Virginia Beach, we used to swim out to the dolphins. As soon as we saw they were close enough in, we’d grab our boogie boards and start swimming. We’d put our faces in the water to talk to them, and watch as they glided by, sometimes as close as 5 feet away. It was quiet except their blow holes bursting up from the water, and their chatter if we put our ears in to listen. Sometimes they’d  go under us, just the tops of their heads and always-unique dorsal fin showing, and sometimes they’d be playing, their tails splashing or even fully leaping into the air, giving us a show. Sometimes they’d swim in circles around my mom, rolling over so we could see their pink bellies. When I went to Haiti years later, our translator told us that in some cultures, they believe dolphins are the guardians of the earth, because of their intelligent, playful and protective spirits. I’ve collected them forever, and dream of dolphin...

Dear Friends, They say life gets busier with three kids. Whoever ‘they’ are appears to be correct, as the verdict is still out whether this letter will actually be finished or even go in the mail before Bryce gets to kindergarten.   I tried delegating this to the kids to see if they would write it for me. When I asked them what they’d say about the year, Bria’s input was “I love purple!,” Bryce brought me Wallie’s leash, and Addie said “This is boring; let’s play SCHOOL!”   Honestly, it’s not the worst summary of 2019. You may notice that our address has changed. Earlier this year, we discovered the joy of moving with three kids (and what fun that process is), but are now happily settled in, a whole 8 minutes from our old house, which I still drive by and thank for its many wonderful memories.   We thought our new one wouldn’t be a fixer-upper, so naturally, there’s been about 5892 projects that needed some Chip-and-Joanna-style love, and 3021 mo...