pretty things

This picture represents a whole lot of happy that I haven't written about because I was busy embracing the sad. I wouldn't want to wear black for a year after a loss, but there is something to taking a little time to mourn. I'm glad I did.

This is a picture of my niece's pretty foot at her first birthday party. Notice the white lace leggings and brown satin ribbon on the ballet slipper, bejeweled with an "N" for Nola Serenity. (You know I have to add her middle name when I speak of her.)

This party was so stuffed with happy, there wasn't room for anything but that. Don't you love when people live up to your best expectations of them? I think of Charity as full of love as her name would imply, and she loves Nola with the biggest love any mother could ever have. It's a beautiful thing to see. Also, in my memoir I write of Charity's ability to live life fully. And she is So. Doing. That. The cloth diapers (which, by the way, are the brightest pink and green you've ever seen and so pretty this sold-out disposable-lover just looks at them in awe), the hand-sewn training pants and the tutus for the party. Plus, she knits. She said of Nola's first birthday, "I just want to celebrate every big and every small moment in life." It's so inspiring. Being at that party was one of those moments that just settle you. I love those.

At this moment in the party, Charity said, "I feel like I'm in a movie." Which is code in our family for many things: It's just so cute, this moment. Or, I'm so happy right now. Or, hello, Drama! Or in this case, a suitable interpretation would be, "If my perfect happiness would translate to a big screen right now, people would totally pay eight-fifty to experience it."