Eureka! It's The Boo!

She's five feet, six inches tall, and a lot of that is legs -- quite shapely ones. She weighs 125 pounds. She's got long nut-brown hair that swings and shines and is the perfect complement to her large green eyes. She is soft-spoken and sweet but also practical and responsible. She's very smart but goes a little cloudy when it comes to common sense. You don't want to get her riled up. She goes by several aliases, including Hecka, Eureka, Boo, and The Little Boo, but technically speaking she is Erica, our third (and baby) daughter. She is a college senior home for a long weekend, and I'm a glad and happy mom. Today we went to Barnes & Noble and Wal-Mart ... B&N was for fun and WM was for grocery shopping, normally an onerous task that becomes fun with Erica along. She trotted around gathering stuff I sent her to fetch, and along the way I noticed the cart becoming heavy with the kinds of provisions necessary to dorm students: canned soup ... saltine crackers ... Little Debbies ... peanut butter ... macaroni and cheese. You know .. the staples.

Erica was born in the small hours of a Friday in late May, 1986. When she was three hours old I was trundled to a semi-private room that turned out to be private because I was the only one in it. This was before the days when everything from conception to kindergarten happens in the same room; I labored in a labor room, delivered in a delivery room, recovered in a recovery room, and spent my confinement in a regular hospital room. In those few hours after Erica's birth I had been allowed to hold her for only a few minutes. Since I barely knew her, I was delighted when the nurses, upon getting me situated in my temporary digs, asked if I'd like to spend some time with my baby. I was tired but eager, and they brought Erica to me.

Erica's eight-pound, five-ounce infant form was swaddled in a receiving blanket and she was sporting a pink-and-white hat that looked as though it had been fashioned from a Handi-Wipe. I was semi-reclining in the hospital bed and the only illumination was from a canister spotlight in the ceiling. When the nurse, having fussed over us for a few minutes, finally left us alone, I grasped baby Erica under her tiny arms and "sat" her on my lap, facing me. And I looked into her eyes, and she looked into mine, and we fell in love. I can still see the look in her little watery dark-blue newborn eyes that morning. She stared at me and for all the world it was as though she was trying to say: "I promise I won't be any trouble." And she never has been, because she's never had time to ... she's been too busy being a joy.

Since Erica and I are both die-hard Grobanites, we were thrilled today when we saw Josh's Christmas CD, Noel, released only three weeks ago, on prominent display at Barnes & Noble. We bought it and played it real loud on the way home, although it's barely November and the sunroof was open to a sunny 70-degree day. By the way if you were going to buy a new Christmas album this year, let me encourage you to consider this one! Like everything Josh does, it's great. There's a link to it in this blog's sidebar.

One last thing ... if you like apple pie, you should try a Plush Pippin Ultimate Deep Dish Apple Pie, found in the frozen food case at Wal-Mart. Cost: a mere $2.68. While it's baking you'll be dying to taste it, and when you taste it you'll swear your grandmother stood by the sink all day, peeling and slicing apples and making homemade pie crust. It's that good. Erica and I bought one of those today too. We're going for a walk in a few minutes, and then we plan to make a pot of coffee and have our pie, piled up in my bed with Javier (who'll be keeping a weather eye for dropped crumbs), listening to our Josh Groban Christmas CD. When we're done we may have to watch at least part of a pirate movie.

The Little Boo ... Mom ... apple pie ... Javier ... Josh ... Johnny ... Eureka! That's sweet.

Comments

[Deppfest]

Erica sounds like a total delight, Jen. Josh, Johnny and a loved daughter - seems like Heaven to me!

[Jenny]

Don't forget the pie! :-)