I heard the news today, oh boy…

So, far starters, I have no money. I have three bucks in cash, and I'm hoarding the last remaining dollars like a squirrel. I have plenty of money in my account, but I've lost my debit card and I'm still waiting on the replacement. I could go to my bank, write a check to myself and cash it of course, but my bank is several blocks away and well, it's freezing here. Like, 9 degrees freezing.  So i've been really, really cold.  And never, at all, taking a cab since cab drivers have the annoying habit of wanting to be PAID.  Hopping from foot to foot on the street corner waiting for a bus has basically defined my week. How's that for exciting news?

Yesterday, I got to go to the White House Holiday Open House and that was so fantastic. I'd never been in there before, and seeing it all decked out for the holidays, and have the ability to go on a self-guided tour with no one rushing us was so fun. Most of you are on my Facebook and can see my pictures, but I'll post a few below here:

So, I'm going to be an aunt. This is the TENTH time I've been able to say those words. (I *technically* have 10 already, but one is a step-daughter of my brother and she just kind of appeared in my life. I don't see her, or my brother's other two kids much, but I count them in the line-up anyway). My sister is pregnant with her third, and I can't wait. I love babies, and I adore my nieces and nephews (like you didn’t know that already) and I'm so, so lucky and blessed with them.

This will be the fifth baby on this side of my family, and there's a big likelihood I'll miss the birth day of this one too. One of my funniest memories center around the birth of this particular sister's second child. Since poor B was baby number two, there was significant less fanfare around her birth. There were only a few of us around and at one point, only a couple of hours after she was born, I found myself alone in the hospital room, holding her. Events unfolded something like this:

Me, holding baby in the empty room, while my sisters are in the bathroom of the hospital room doing…something: "Guys, can I come in?"

Sister L: "NO!"

Sister B: "Steph, if you ever want to have a baby, you do NOT come in here."

Ho-hum. I didn't. I still don't know what they were doing, and I don't think I want to know. Soon after, I was dispatched to the Diary Queen to get the new mother a chicken strip basket. Life was good.

And things are good in my world too. My christmas presents are wrapped, and today is my one-year anniversary at my job. I did it --met the goal of the year, and despite ALL the hardships of this year, I'm glad I did it. This will mean very well for my career and ultimately, that was the whole point.

I have no idea what the future holds but today, that's okay. And hey, at least I know it holds another baby for me to love--and that's enough for me.

More than enough.

RIP

Elizabeth Edwards--Mother, Advocate, and Champion of everything you believed in.  We admired you.  You loved well.

The classiest lady whose hand I have grasped in my own.