Happy Birthday Carmen!

She's nine! As an early birthday treat, I took her and Anna blueberry picking again. She was begging me. So we went. It was lovely. We worked together, chatting, enjoying a near perfect summer day. I marveled later how the simplest pleasures bring such peace to to this girl. She is the one who teaches me best that my presence, my full attention and a shared experience are the best gifts I can offer my children.

And can we mention we love her shared feast day? Which is after all, why she is named Carmen (and not Elena like we planned, though Elena is her middle name).