Highlights

The Butterfly is growing up. By the end of the year she will be 12. A few months back, we ran a 5k together. I've always wanted to do that. I finished first in my age category. Don't be too impressed. A woman in her late 50's was a minute behind me. :-) I'm gonna train next year. So, because I won, my funny friend who runs a salon here in town, took Emily's prize right out of her hand and gave it to me. She loves both of us. It was a $10 coupon toward a cut or anything else. So, I told Emily since I got her coupon, I'd give her highlights. I touched up mine and did hers. Hers are hard to see because her hair is so thick.

Highlights. My children are growing up and as they move forward, I find myself looking back a lot. I have decided to start digital scrapbooking. I am going to start that after girl's camp. But, my mind is like a scrapbook and I can turn the pages and go back.

My wedding day with lots of friends but no earthly family. Mixed emotions. The day I became a mom. I was supposed to be giving a deposition for an accident I had been in. And I had my baby in the wrong city. Oops. Deciding on purpose to have two babies 16 months apart so they would be close and not regretting it at all. Three boys in four years. Flying into Albuquerque at sunset on a medical jet and realizing the precious gift of a fourth boy and hoping it all turned out all right at 28 weeks. It did. Four little boys with very bad chicken pox, externally and internally. Looking at the ultrasound screen with a good friend when the tech said, "it's a girl" and not being able to identify "it" because I had never seen a her "it" before. :-) Another boy. The end. Nope. Another girl. Moving from having a family to rearing a family. 1st days of kindergarten. Realizing when Andrew was 9 1/2 that it was half over.

Sports, sports, sports. Jr High. Girls. High School. Driving. Football, basketball, tennis. And finally, ruffles and bows, giggles and dolls, dressup and dance! The first high school graduate. The first college student. The last family vacation for a very long time. Another college student. A college basketball player! A missionary. The last kindergartner. Broken arms. First teen car accident. Surgeries, wisdom teeth, braces. It's a crazy mix when you look back.

And looking forward? Another missionary in a few months. Another graduate and college student. Another high school student. A few more years of elementary and Jr High. Returning missionaries. Marriage eventually? Grandchildren? Wow! Can't even conceive of that right now. Well, I won't be doing the conceiving. Hahaha.

Life is blessed. Most of the time, that's all I can see. I used to think my first 20 yrs were so bad. But, age brings wisdom, hopefully. And my life wasn't so bad. But in any way it might have been less than it should have/could have been, my loving Heavenly Father has done more than made up for it. I wonder why? I wish everyone could have it this good. It hasn't always been perfect and there have been moments so painful, I wondered if I could endure. But those moments are brief thankfully and when we allow it, we can grow in ways that bless us. And in the grand scheme of things, I think it will be fun to look back and see the highlights of a lifetime. At least I hope so.