Beep!

23 May 2013

Dear Josslyn,

Eight years ago, I was in a one-bedroom apartment on Tustin Ave in Santa Ana, California preparing to end one of the most rewarding and influential epochs of my life.

Those 25 months in Orange County, California were remarkable, and coming home was hard.

Most good things in life are difficult to stop doing once we get started.

We all spent an hour together for lunch today.  We went to Panera. It was really close to your nap time, so you were being a little feisty until I gave you some of my black bean soup.

You also were really anxious to get a giant flower cookie and tried to climb over the glass to get it.

You had no interest in your ham and cheese sandwich, yogurt, or potatoe chips. All you wanted was  black bean soup.

You tried to grab the spoon out of my hand a few times as well as grabbing my plate and bowl. When you got them you held on with a death grip, determined your life  would end without more soup.

There was a moment when you got your flower cookie which had a big blue disc of frosting in the center of the yellow  lemon-flavored petals.

I pushed on it like it was a button and said "beep." You instantly  mimicked me and now love pointing at things that look like   buttons and saying "beep!"

After struggling through lunch, you and mom returned home and you eventually got the nap you so desperately needed.