Day 8 – 13 Years ago

January 25, 2000. Rebekah was 8 just days old and Atlanta was finally emerging from of one of the worst ice storms on record. Most of the outlining suburbs were still without power and the Superbowl between the St. Louis Rams and the Tennessee Titans was in jeopardy. We spent a couple days in a hotel after heating bottles of formula on a small Coleman propane camping stove wasn’t cutting it anymore. I am thankful to the Marriot hotel that found us a room since all the rooms seemingly were booked due to the Superbowl that was just a few days away.

The below is what I wrote in her baby sketch book that day. Unlike Joey’s, this one was meant to be a poem, and I figured I would share it with you now 13 years later… now that Rebekah is a teenager. Disclaimer: I am not a poet, nor do I claim to be. 🙂

Returning Home

It’s time for us to return home now,
and Lord things just seem different.

The air seems lighter
the wind doesn’t seem as brisk.
The temperature through 20 degrees
isn’t as cold as it seems.

I’m smiling because
we return home with thankfulness in our hearts.
Home to comfort, pillows, lights and heat.

So I do not mind
the long walk to the car,
or that the chilly wind
cuts through my jacket cause,

it’s time for us to return home now
and lord, things… just seem different.

Different now, because
we can now enjoy in our home
that once there was three in our family
…but now there is four.