I don't dream super often, and it's even less that I ever remember them, but last night was an exception I guess because of all the emotions that were mixed into it.
I love going home to Oregon and going to church because, let's face it, among the little girls, I am a local celebrity. Little Emily will spot me right away, she's always squirreled around her daddy's neck, looking at everyone behind them because they sit so near the front I guess people watching two rows gets boring pretty quick. And then she sees me, most of the time even before I see her, and she quietly whispers to her daddy that she wants to go sit by me. By this time I have usually seen her and her daddy and I make eye-contact and he lets her come to me. She's kinda shy, so she walks with her head down and patiently waits for people's legs to move as she makes her way to the middle of the bench where I am seated, arms open to grab her up in a hug. She is so super quiet in sacrament meeting it's hard to believe that she's even there, sitting on my lap. The only thing that gives her away is her coloring and her looking up at me ever-so-often for approval that her small scribbles are looking like the people and clouds and sunshine that she wants them to. I just love that girl to bits!
And then Geni and Lindsey. Oh those girls. They have SO much energy! I watched them all through high school. I fed Lindsey bottles and held her as she cried and cried. I played all sorts of games and did all sorts of puzzles with Geni and now they're all grown up. As grown up as fourth grade and first grade girls can be, with scabs on their knees from riding bikes and bumps on their shoulders and faces from playing hard. The three of us have had so much fun and have made so many memories it's hard to even think of just one, 'cause then a dozen come and it gets a little overwhelming. Those girls are why I love to come home. I still remember the last time I saw them before I went to college for the first time. It was late June and we had been sliding down the slip 'n' slide all day in their side yard. They were in their swim-suits and my basketball shorts were still damp as I sat behind the wheel. I gave them both a pick-me-up hug and a smothering kiss and instructed them to stay on the cement so that I could back-up without smooshing their toes. The hanging baskets above their heads already had blooms in them and they waved and waved as I drove out of their gravel drive-way. That was the last time I saw them before I started a new chapter in my life and I'll never forget it. It was one of those moments that you return to when things aren't going too great and you feel like no one knows what's going on. Those little girls would always love me, no matter what.
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