What Was It Like Before This?

T and Miss M met me at work, and we walked to this gorgeous park that has a wide expanse of grass and trees. T had made a picnic for our dinner, and brought wine and plastic wine glasses and a blanket to sit on. Miss M refused to eat, and ran around instead, pretending to drink out of the (empty) wine glasses. She would go far, far, far away from us, turning and laughing at us periodically. She is so bold. Then she'd come running back, and make off with T's hat or her bag of snacks or some other little thing, giggling as though it were the most hilarious thing ever. As the sun set, it was warm but not too warm--perfect picnic weather. She was dressed in a ridiculously cute outfit, too--a white short sleeve bodysuit, a denim Oshkosh overall dress with a patchwork skirt, a Gap jean jacket and baby Frye harness boots. (Thanks to her grammy and many aunts and friends, she has a large and stylish wardrobe!) As we sat there sipping red wine, joggers went by with their dogs. Other families were out and about, kids with scooters and balls and jump ropes. It was just the most perfect, magical evening, and yet so entirely ordinary. As we sat on the blanket and watched her and talked, we tried to remember our lives a couple of years ago, and we talked about what we would be doing if she hadn't come into our lives. Everything would be different, we agreed. We would have made different choices about things. But it's all so much better now. She is such a joy. This life with her is so amazing.