Joy is a girl named Ella

This is my girl Ella on a recent fall afternoon. I am constantly amazed by her ability to find joy in everything. Crazy, puke inducing fair rides, McDonald's French Fries, dance class, school, the slug on the rock at the bus stop, her brother, hershey kisses, pennies, a lost tooth, a weekend at gramma's. You name it she loves it.

I am not naive, I know that this too shall pass. That soon enough she will have her moments of NOT loving life. Whether it will be that she doesn't like the outfit I picked out or the little girl at school who will say she's not her friend, the day will come. The day when her ceaseless, effortless love of life will change. She, like all of us, will struggle with friends, love, work, life. She will be fine. My heart will break for her as she realizes that the world is not utopia and sometimes people are just mean to be mean.

For now, I will just continue to bask in her glow. I cherish every single time that out of the blue she will say to me, "Mama, I love you." And no, this statement is not immediately followed by "Can I have a candy bar?" Tonight it was in response to my asking her to pick out and bag our apples. She loves me because of apples!

As she begins to understand the world around her in increasing and disappointing complexity, my job will be to serve as her sounding board, her steady rock, her number one fan in life. Her protector. I will come by this easily. She makes it so easy. She is love. Pure and simple. Sweet and lovely. She is my daughter and I could not be a prouder mom. I know it is such a cliche, but it is so true that I would gladly lay my life on the line for her or her brother. Without question, I know that I would.

Those who know the intricacies of my pregnancies, particularly Max's gestation, will often say that they don't think they could do it. But I know that what I sacrificed was nothing. What I gained was everything. I made the decisions I made for the lives of my children without even a 2nd thought. My only concern was that they get the best chance they could have. This is not heroic. It is simply what a parent does in small and large measure every day. You have no idea what you can handle until the moment comes that you have to just hunker down and push through. And anyone who knows me or my kids knows they have given me far more than I could ever give them. They have given me focus, laughter, warmth, sweetness and a perspective on life that is invaluable. The knowledge that life is too short to waste time worrying about the little stuff.