Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Refreshing

I have two daughters.
The first one came after the loss of three boy babies. I prayed, I promised God, I stopped doing things that were no longer important to me in a crazy attempt to have a live child.  All I asked was for the baby to be healthy, happy and strong.
She came out perfect in every way.
She's a scientist now and I'm very proud of her.

When she was five months old, one morning, only one morning in her baby life, she went back to sleep after rattling the crib bars and another miracle happened.  We got pregnant again in the quiet of that one morning.

I didn't think I could have a second miracle, but Someone was smiling at me.

Daughter #2 didn't open her eyes for me for a whole month...the month she was supposed to be born but surprised us early. She was perfect in every way, just early. And vastly different from the first baby. I couldn't go by anything that had happened with #1 to figure out how to handle #2.

This one was so interested in tactile sensations.  She adored color and played for hours with toys that the other one eschewed. They did play together, but it was odd to watch.  The younger one established the scenarios for their play and the older one followed along. The older one, who could read before she was two, would share books with her sister. I guess it was a mutual thing, this sharing, and sometimes it wasn't mutual.

The younger kid displayed talent in the ways I could thoroughly appreciate.  Singing like an angel, artistic to the point where she can draw just about anything...just ask her.
She has drawn the covers for my newest books and novellas.
She is responsible for my new website.  It is her gift to me and my stories.

Friday, April 17, 2015

Cold cream


But Sally wiggled out of Maggie’s arms. She went closer to the sink and turned the jar around so that the label faced out where she could see it.  The three glamorous women on the label smiled seductively back at her.  Sally smiled.  Maggie thought she was trying to match their expressions…which was something for a seven year old redhead to do, but she managed to achieve at least little girl coy with her look.
“Ah, that’s us, isn’t it?  You, Lulu and me.  Blonde, redhead and brunette.”

“Momma!  Yes, that’s us!  Did you think of this before you had us in your tummy?”  Lulu peered through her glasses, her big blue eyes sparkling with mischief.
Maggie stood slowly. How to answer this?

“Yes. Your father and I planned on having two beautiful girls, one with lovely blond hair that curled better than Shirley Temple’s hair and the other with flame red hair that danced gloriously in the summer sunshine. Yes, we planned it quite well.  Of course, I had to be the brunette, to make things even.”

Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Jergens cold cream


Am I going to be beautiful when I grow up, Momma?”  Lulu stood slightly behind Maggie as she rinsed her face in the bathroom sink.
Maggie turned to her daughter and smiled. “Of course.  You’re beautiful now. What makes you think you wouldn’t be beautiful in a few more years?”
The child reached up to the sink and snagged the pink lid to the cold cream jar. She looked at the top then turned it over and found a dab of Jergens there.  Lulu touched it with her index finger then applied the goo to her cheek. By this time, Sally had joined her, standing slightly behind Maggie, but all three were in range of the mirror.
She watched as Sally boldly stuck her finger into the white jar and scooped out the tiniest amount of cold cream. She applied it to her cheek, smeared it around and grinned up at Maggie.
“Oh, my beautiful girls!”  Maggie knelt and hugged them both.  “Here, let’s get this rubbed into those rosy cheeks of yours and then off to bed.”