Celie B. First Christmas, 2007
She made kazoo noises -for hours- at cousin Judd in the back of a rental van on a Florida freeway. She was five months old and it was her first, and only, trip to the beach. During that vacation, when she wasn't making kazoo noises, she was squealing with glee.
She crawled in a circle through the rooms on our main floor. Both of our moms had told us, when we'd been searching for our first home, to look for place with a path for kids to traverse, and her rounds proved their advice sound. The first time she crawled, I'd used Cheerios as motivation. Andy left work early so he could witness her new development, and her going was slow enough that part of the trail still lay ahead by the time he got home.
She learned to drink through a straw when we were at Circuit City shopping for a portable DVD player for a long car ride to Iowa. She wasn't yet a year old and we wandered the store taking turns hunched over, her fingers gripping ours as she toddled and tasted. It was a Planet Smoothie Screamsicle shake. And she was in love at first sip.
She was, by turns, introverted and extroverted. She played quietly, processed information, demonstrated restraint. She was also energized by the world, hollering "hello" to strangers and waving wildly at cars and squirrels.
She was perfect. Everything was perfect. Until it wasn't.
I record these things because they come to mind. They’re just simple memories. But I don’t want to forget.
JEB
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