Birthdays and such

This is the second year of having my beloveds take a group birthday photo with me. The photo is always a little imperfect, nobody's ever quite ready, and you can see my husband concentrating of triggering the remote for his camera phone using his Apple watch. But it's a joyful photo, which capped a birthday gathering during which we re-watched the Battle of Winterfell episode of Game of Thrones (turning off all the lights since the action on screen was so poorly lit and hard to see), and everyone, throners all, animatedly shared memes and theories about the episode, and identified clues as to who will ultimately sit on the iron throne. I like to imagine this group as the years pass, having each others back, making sure the cousins grow up close, and becoming, in time, the sturdy trunk of a flourishing new branch of the family tree. 

Speaking of flourishing new branches, we attended the baptism of my son's girlfriend's nephew yesterday, and it was lovely. My son had to work, and it was intriguing to my husband and me to note how missed he was by his girlfriend's extended family, including her famously, um, eccentric grandmother, for whom, I am told, he is a favorite. Her family clearly sees the union of these two as a done deal, and our son as their soon-to-be in-law. They speak freely as if that is the case, with my son's girlfriend's mom saving spots for my husband and me at "the family table." We mothers dared to muse that our children's children would be adorable, and my husband laughed and shook his head ruefully, because we try to spare our children these kinds of conversations, though to be honest, he and have them with each other all the time. Not to put too fine a point on it, we're ready to be grandparents y'all, and it's good to have collegial relationships with all the people with whom we might share this journey. Our niece is now married, and our son and daughter both appear to be in the pipeline. We shall see.

There's my son's love and her sweet nephew, the younger one. 

And here's her adorable older nephew, who celebrates his third birthday this week. We attended his parents' wedding two years ago now. Time does go rollicking by.

You know, I've been swinging from wondering if I should stop blogging altogether, to wanting to make my blog public again, to realizing that I post more regularly and freely in this private space. Hmm.

And here another picture that the family sent us. My husband has a magic shoulder when it comes to babies. I think they get up there and are fascinated by the way the world looks from that great height. Plus they sense his good energy.