To paraphrase Betty Smith, if you would have your time on earth be filled with glory, "Look at everything as though you were seeing it either for the first or last time. " Occasional moments in our lives allow us to do both...
As the three-year course of law school marks its final paces, our future is pregnant with possibility. Odds are good that we will stay in the DC area but job, apartment/house, ward, etc., remain unknown variables. Even in staying here, our roles will change: from student to lawyer, from teacher to mother, from couple to family. Before-- growing up with parents in the military and travelling the globe-- every move was a complete change of scenery to keep pace with the changing person. Now, I wonder how different the Potomac of next year will be and who we will be when we gaze upon (but never step in!) its historic waters.
Whatever happens, the one constant center in our life will fit conveniently in a Baby Bjorn. Our daughter will shape us as certainly as we imprint her (both deliberately and unwittingly) with skills and attitudes to navigate this world. Of course, she will not arrive a completely blank page and her personality (whether owing to a veiled soul, genomic markers, gassiness, or rogue lepidoptera) will challenge us to look at even familiar surroundings with fresh eyes.
