Love, Laugh, LILY!

My mom made sure that all of my children's first baths were given by her. It stuck w/me, especially when she gave my first-born, Cortny Christine, her first water/Nino baptism. I was all of eighteen years old and I didn't know a thing. I will never forget her coming over to my little home down in the valley and showing me how to bathe my little girl. I remember watching, admiring...thinking "How did she get to be so wise, so natural, so very precious.?" Our parents become 'wiser,' if you will, when we become parents for the first time. I thought my mom was....'everything.' I called her often. Cortny had high fevers with many infections. My mom sat w/me through the night on more than one occasion. Oh my, I miss her so much. Unless you've lost a parent, I'm sorry, you cannot understand. It's a part of life that is gone. You move on, but for me, I've never stopped mourning the loss of her. It's with that I share today's experience. I love my Cortny. Of all my children, because she is the oldest, she knew my mom the most. She does not just express sympathy @ the loss of my mom...her Nino...it is empathy. We are kindred in this way. A babies first bath. Most would think...no big deal., not me, not for my daughter. I love Cortny for knowing it was so much more than giving our little Lily her first dunking. When I got the news last night that Lily was a 'go' for her first bath, I couldn't wait for this morning to come, in fact, I even dreamed about it last night. As if to say to me "YaYa, I want to make you smile", our little Lily sat in the water looking at me and her precious mom like she had done it a hundred times before. I washed her little, tubby body, ears and all. Then I wrapped her in a towel and dressed her in a little sleeper with a butterfly on the 'butt.' Cortny, remembered I had bought it for her, months before. You see what I mean about my Cortny don't you? When my time was over and I had to go home, I climbed into our little Mini-Cooper and was overcome with emotion. Thanks mom....what a precious tradition. My mom was the bestest (is there such a word?). I miss her the world. I wish my Lily would have had the chance to know her. Thanks Cortny for honoring your Nino. Today.....Life was what it should be! I honored my mom, I served my daughter, I made a memory with my Granddaughter. Shew Trouble....be gone.