Stepping Into Life

There’s a reason people talk about the circle of life. Leaving one part of a three-day celebration of life and funeral today, baby walked between her mother and me, one hand in her mom’s hand and one hand in mine, for the first time. She walked on grass, cement, and pavement – slowly. She walked a couple of hundred yards, under the Texas sky, on one of the sadder afternoons her parents have had in a while. And it was just incredibly joyous. She is on the verge of popping out the biggest tooth she has had, and while the pain of it is evident, she has been resilient and ebullient nearly all the time. She is my hero of heroes.