This is my beautiful oldest daughter, Erin and her equally beautiful husband, Andrae. Erin was born on St. Patrick’s Day; two weeks before her scheduled due date. She almost didn’t make  it into the world due to some last minute scary stuff in delivery. But God placed us in the hands of two competent and caring doctors, and all 8 pounds and 15 ounces of her arrived safely and without a last minute C-section.

      I delivered in the primitive days when a baby’s sex was revealed after delivery. My mother,though, had predicted I would be coming home with a sister for Michael, who was almost three years old when Erin was born.  Generally a quiet, reserved woman, my mother delighted in Erin’s childhood antics. I think she admired her granddaughter’s spunkiness. When I’d discipline Erin, my mother would tell me, “Don’t break her spirit.”  Of course, now that I’m a grammy myself, I understand more than ever what it’s like to look into the eyes of your grandchild and see a glimmer of what you might have become.

     In the past ten years, Erin has experienced more than some women experience in a lifetime. She and Andrae married, then their son Bailey was born and died a month later, they divorced, they remarried.  Erin became a paralegal, then she decided to earn a college degree. She worked full-time and attended the University of Houston taking night classes. 

     I am so humbled by the courage, persistence, and generosity of my daughter. Today, I wish I could give her the gifts of believing in herself as much as others believe in her, the eyes to see her own beauty, and the freedom to allow herself to rest in God’s gentle hands.