It’s so funny to me what happens after my family knows that I have pictures they haven’t seen. The first couple of days that pass I can tell they’re just trying to hold back. “So, have you had a chance to take a look at the pictures from this weekend?” This is usually how it starts. But then I start getting emails of a different kind. A few weeks ago after an apparent unsurmountable amount of time had elapsed, I get an email from Aunt Susan. The subject was “???? where r the f ing pictures…” and all the body of the text said was:
?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
i got to… i got to… i got to see them
So, being the person that I am, when I get something like this, regardless of how little sleep I’ve been going on, I push myself to update the blog…for the fans, of course. 
But, let me just tell you…I’ll spend SEVERAL nights not going to bed until after 2:00 in the morning in order to get this done only to spend the next week staring at my email waiting for SOME KIND OF RESPONSE! But nooooooooo….what the heck? really? I get NOTHING! So, when I DO get something, it means a WHOLE lot. (Hint, hint…to family members who don’t mention a word about it.)
Aunt Susan sent this to me a few days after I did my last post. It meant so much to me…in fact, I don’t know if she’ll ever know how much it meant to me. So much of the time I feel like I don’t do Brittain justice. I want to be the best mother possible to her and teach her the right things and the things that matter and that are most important in life. Most of the time I feel like I fail at that…but then I get something like this. And then I see that someone was listening…and they remembered…and they remind me that I’ve done something good…
“Hey, thanks for the blog update. Brittain just gets sweeter and cuter every day…and the beauty of her soul becomes more and more evident. I remember when she was born, you would talk to her and tell her she needed to be as pretty on the inside as she would be on the outside.
Looking at the pictures of her next to the baby at the party just made me smile all over. The way she looked at the baby…with compassion and the sincerity of really trying to see him and figure him out. And smiling the whole time.
More thoughts I had of the pictures:
She not only loves, but knows how to host a good party.
Her face in your bed with the other kids: I will do anything to avoid going to bed….but when I‘m sleepy “Don’t mess with my bedtime”.
A quote from her as an adult about her feelings on Christmas ” I grew up learning to love the heart of Christmas and appreciate the true importance of the spirit of the season…my family, my mother was the biggest part of that”.
Her pictures prove how much she loves her family, and she lights up with warm smiles from ear to ear – and floats, nearly bursting with pride, while engulfed in the security of her parents arms.
Love ya’ll”
Thanks, Aunt Susan. This is perhaps the most special post for me…and I’m sure will be one of Brittain’s favorites as well.
