Back not that many years ago, Kitty got a job offer to be a sky marshal. The very same day, we learned that she was pregnant with our first child. Baby trumps sky marshal job any day. Which brings us to Jessamyn, the most beautiful baby in the history of the world until then and the girl who has given us so much joy and a few gray hairs.
Jessie was a happy baby. She did -- and still does -- bring joy and light to the world. Love and pride are words not strong enough to describe our feelings for her.
She was one of the first babies(maybe the first) in our area to be born using the Lamaze method and the OB nurses were not happy with that. Almost everything about that night has been pushed to the background of my memory because of the one thing that stands shining out from that experience, the one thing I will never forget, no matter how long I live. At the moment of birth, the doctor told Kitty that it was a girl. And Kitty said, "A girl." Just two words. Two simple words. It was the way she said it, the tone of her voice, something that I have been at a loss to describe over the passing years. I have never heard a human being use that voice, either before or since. Kitty's voice encapsulated pure joy and radiance, a sense of completeness, a feeling of perfectness -- for her, for me, for the baby, for the universe. I pray that each person can hear that tone, that voice, if only once in his or her life, so that each person can experience love and awe taken to its utmost human limit.
I know how very fortunate we are to have Jessie and how fortunate we are to have her two beautiful daughters as our grandchildren. If the only heritage we leave behind is our children, then Kitty and I have done very well.
If possible, we love you more today than on the very first day we met you, Jessie.
Have a fantastic birthday!
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