thinking of ray

mike's dad, ray, is on my mind a lot, especially this past week that marked the one year anniversary of his passing. he was such a big part of our lives for 18 months, that it's still hard to believe that he's gone. i miss the guy.

in some ways he was our first run at parenthood. it sounds crazy, but spending all that time with him really helped me understand that there was room in my life for different responsibilities, and that that effort could be rewarded with love. i will always be grateful that he helped me understand that caring for another person didn't mean that you divided up the love you had to give between them, but that it meant that you just had more love to give.

i'm absolutely certain that the moment i realized that i was finally ready to become a mom. so that cranky, picky, goofy old man will always have a very special place in my heart. and his granddaughter will know all about it.