A young lady turned twenty-seven yesterday. We had an amazing dinner at The Cheesecake Factory before the snow blanketed the streets of Denver. This morning, I began to write this and closed my eyes for a few minutes. There she appeared at 19 days young as we picked her up from the adoption agency. I saw so clearly the balloons and banner on the garage door as friends welcomed her home on that memorable day. I saw her dad (me) filming this scene with tears running unabashedly down his cheeks. Soon the picture came to me of her with her friends waiting for the bus on the first day of school at Franklin Elementary. The continuation ceremony a few years later was emotional for Sally and her hubby. Middle School flew by like a dove in a windstorm. The high school years were highlighted with weekends in Longmont and Steamboat or Vail for softball games. When I’m ninety, (God willing) I’ll still see the home run in Steamboat that seemed to sail as high as the hot air balloons that float above that magnificent valley. The only way to describe that blast was with Dick Enberg’s, ‘OH MY!’ How great it was in 2007 when Carly’s grandpa made the trip from Florida for her graduation. I can still see the look of joy on grandpa Emil’s face as the party ensued in the backyard. The college years were spent at Ft. Collins and The Art Institute in Denver. Carly realized that she was gifted in art and that gifts are to be honored. Three years ago, Berkeley Kemper was kicking leukemia in Topeka, Kansas. The young artist decided to draw a picture of Berkeley with her cat named Bah. When she presented the picture to Ann (Berkeley’s tennis coach) who was visiting Denver, it was a moment she and Ann would hold in their hearts forever. Carly has always had a way to touch our hearts and how sweet it was to share dinner and dessert with her last night. May you have an amazing twenty-seventh year Dear Carly! May your destiny become your reality…..and may you SHINE like a million suns!
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