Claire Comes To Town

Our daughter Claire Elizabeth came to town today. Technically, my sister Stephanie birthed her, but that is only minor. For the two and half years that followed she was more like our child. She slept in our spare bathroom, napped on our bed underneath our glowing lanterns, and stayed with us for days on end. We planned and successfully executed her two-year-old birthday party and subsequent Halloween night. It snowed that Halloween but it didn't stop us from taking our daughter trick-or-treating in her matador costume. Where were her biological parents? In Hawaii. I think Steph was wearing a bikini or something.
Due to some unfortunate promotions in her biological father's career, Claire was whisked away to Ner Jersey, as she prefers to call it. It got real quiet around here after she left.
I spent the whole day today with my daughter. Sadly, she is almost a tween, (even at the tender age of three). She can draw a mean stinky bunny with a crayola. You miss out on the best of things when you are a long distance parent.