Our Little Lady

If you were to ask me what love was, I would have a hard time explaining it.  I know what it feels like, but it’s often hard to explain a feeling.  Even the official definition of love from Webster’s dictionary seems void of any emotion to adequately capture it:

·         Love: verb /’lev/ a (1): to hold dear; to like or desire actively. 

Ashley always expresses her love for us but out of curiosity I asked her if she knew what it meant.  I expected silence to an almost inexplicable question but without hesitation and very matter-of-factly, she said that “love is when someone makes your heart so happy.”  I was amazed at both the simplicity and depth of that statement because at four years old, she provided a more meaningful and heartfelt definition than I or the good people at Webster’s could have ever given.  What’s more is that each time she says it, I know now that she is not simply repeating a phrase that we have said to her from the day she was born but that she truly knows the emotion that she is expressing to us when she says it.

I am so proud of the little lady that Ashley is becoming…..strong willed yet sensitive, free spirited yet reflective, lives in the moment yet sentimental, lover of animals, lover of nature, artistic, affectionate and compassionate.  She has accepted the attention we have given Corey with grace and is an amazing teacher and entertainer to her baby brother.  With each day, a new characteristic reveals itself giving us a glimpse of the little lady that she is becoming.  I couldn’t be a more proud father and we couldn’t be more proud parents.