Through New Eyes

My friends got back from China with their new little girl, Ella, on Friday night. After 20 hours in transit with at least 9 hours of screaming 1.5 year old, the whole family was wrecked and pretty sure they never wanted to get on an airplane ever again. Miss Ella is a complete charmer and I can't stop thinking of what it must be like to be her and to have your world changed so completely.

The drive home strapped into a car seat for the first time showcased her lung power, but she soon keeled over to sleep... taking after her Aunt Debbie who can't sit in a moving vehicle for long without snoozing. Soon she saw her new home for the first time... and her new pet kitty. Do you remember the first time you ever saw a cat? Me, either. I grew up with pets, have never not had a pet, can't imagine life without a pet.

Not so, Ella. It was really funny to witness her first introduction to Tux. Tux, who has never met a stranger, beelined it to the new little person for a look see. Ella's eyes got big, followed by a blood curdling, Freddy Krueger is in the house, scream. Tux nearly turned himself inside out to get away from sceaming baby. Meg and I nearly collapsed from the giggles -- compassionate souls that we are.

Word is that within 24 hours Ella had made peace with Tux and Jake the dog; this week of firsts is so exciting that I'm glad I got to see a couple of them. What a fun, sweet journey.

One Short Flight & a World Away

I'm spending the week in South Texas at a 5,000 acre ranch filled with deer, cactus and mesquite. It's an amazing place to visit to recharge your batteries and slow down to enjoy life and little purple flowers and a friendly ranch puppy. I'm so grateful for the opportunity and the jalapeno bacon...

Yesterday we trekked down to a border town and loaded up on cool, amazingly inexpensive pewter and pottery. I'm definitely conning my friend Sarah into a road trip and joint business venture of "importing" this stuff back home to re-sell.

As we're driving back from our shopping jaunt, the phone rings and it's my friend Meg who is in China adopting a little girl. What a small, diverse world we live in that I can be staring out at dusty plains filled with cactus while chatting with my friend who's heading off for a day on the Great Wall.

I love the opportunities we have in our world today and want to drink even more of them in... gotta sell a lot of chimeas (sp?) and flower pots to make my dreams come true!