Christmas Lights and Snow Cones

January 26, 2007 I turned 17. It was the best birthday I have ever had. Steven took me skiing for the first time (which was a whole story in itself). After skiing, we went back to his grandparent's house to hot tub. There was probably two feet of snow on the ground and it was snowing big, soft flakes. There were Christmas lights around the hot tub and I remember thinking about how magical it looked. We got in the hot tub, and Steven just looked at me for a minute. Then he said, "If I show you something that my sister and I used to do, will you promise not to laugh?" I nodded excitedly. He jumped out of the hot tub, ran inside and came back out with two cups, two spoons, and juice. He filled up the cups all the way with fresh snow and poured juice on top. He handed me one and said, "Fresh snow cone!" That was the moment that I realized that I had to be with him forever. Sitting under the Christmas lights with a fresh snow cone in my hand and him by my side was my perfect scenario.

It has been almost 10 years since that moment. Last night, Steven and I put our two babies down for bed and got back in that same hot tub. There was no fresh snow cone this time, but there were a lot of stars out.

Have you ever felt the chapter in your book coming to a close? It's a strange feeling when you know it's happening. There are a few times in life when it's really obvious that there's about to be a new chapter... Graduating, moving to a new state, having a baby... These are times when you are expecting to have a chapter change and you can somewhat prepare for it. Then there are times that you get a new chapter suddenly, and you have days or hours or minutes to get used to it. We recently had one of those changes. We had plans for the next little while, and a major kink got thrown into it. Heaven gained another angel that we already miss so much. Whether it's a grandparent or parent or spouse or baby you never got to know, there will always be a little pocket in your heart that can only be filled by them.

Thinking back to 10 years ago sitting in that same hot tub brought back a lot of memories for us. We spent senior prom at this house. We had innumerable family parties here. We brought home our babies here. This is where they both took their first steps. This is the house where when I was having a bad day, Grandpa would put his arms around me and remind me that I'm doing just fine and then he would take me out to lunch. At the end of the day, the house is made of bricks and wood. It's the love and memories made here that are more important. And those are the only things that we can take Home with us.

Now for the next chapter.