We're
back from Peru. Did you see the signs I made for you? Your
Daddy and I took photos with them at Machu Picchu and Tambo del Inka
and on the beach at the Doubletree in Paracas. I hope you liked them. I
made one for your friend Chloe too. Her momma Nikki is having an
especially hard time right now. I want to send her the
pictures of Chloe's sign and the shells we found on the beach, but I'm
afraid it might make her feel even more overwhelmed with grief than she
already is. As you probably saw, on the first morning we walked on the
beach, we were repulsed by all the gross jellyfish washed up on shore.
I'd never seen jellyfish up close. I had no idea they came in so many
colors, patterns and sizes. But, we also found two beautiful perfect
scallop shells. I couldn't believe it, two, just perfect, one for each
of you. Saturday night, when we were walking over to the adjacent hotel
for dinner, I found another scallop shell. I wanted to pick it up for
Chloe. Daddy said to wait and get it on the way back to our hotel after
dinner. But, after taking a few steps away from the shell, I went
back, picked it up, washed it off and put it in my jacket pocket. I'm
so glad I did, because the rest of our time there, I never saw another
perfectly intact scallop shell. Now, Chloe can have one too. While we
were on the terrace of our hotel room at Tambo del Inka, your Daddy told
me he'd been watching one of the trees waving in the breeze. That tree
split in two from the main trunk and both branches were waving in
the wind. He told me he decided it was the Shelby and Dalton tree.
Momma wanted to take your pictures out and sit with them while we were
in the cathedral in Lima, but I was afraid I'd start crying and not be
able to stop. You were with us every step of the way on that trip yet
the most ironic thing is that we wouldn't have even taken that trip if
you'd survived.
Yesterday,
we went to the Cardinals season opener
with Grandpa Larry and Uncle Bill. Grandpa Joe and Grandma
Nancy work the games, so they were there too. It may seem incredibly trivial to write about football, but football has been part of my life since shortly after I was born. The story is on Sundays, I used to sit with your Grandpa Joe and Great-Grandpa Stanley and just take in everything about football. Supposedly, I even uttered some version of a then-famous quarterback's name before I said Momma. After I moved to Arizona, your Daddy told me how happy he was that I liked football so much, as he would finally have someone to go to Cardinals games with him.
So, it's the 2012 season, what should have been your first year to "watch football". I was fine at first,
even as we walked through the fan shop and I saw all the infant and
children items available. We got to our seats and I was still fine. I was being
my usual obnoxious self, going off on tangents to your Daddy about many different things: how
well Robert Griffin III was doing in his professional debut, how
much I dislike the Seahawks and their coach, and how I was going
to yell loudly for my favorite players, depending on if they announced offense or defense (for Larry Fitzgerald and Lyle Sendlein (UT), or Adrian Wilson, Darnell Dockett and Sam Acho
(UT) ). Well, the defense was announced,
and I started yelling and doing the Hook Em Horns sign for Sam Acho, but
the yell was quickly replaced by choking sobs. I put on my sunglasses
and tried to pull myself together, but the tears lasted through the
national
anthem. I kept wishing Nikki was in the open seat next to me. I don't
know what came over me, but watching the player intros just broke my
heart. I guess it made me think about how y'all should have been there
with us, going to your first NFL game. I guess I was also thinking
about all the dreams I had of Dalton being a long snapper. It just
killed me. Then, there were pregnant women with big huge bellies all
around, as well as several infants. On the Jumbotron, they showed one
dad with his baby, I couldn't tell if it was a boy or girl, but it
looked like my baby pictures with all that dark hair and the dad had put
noise cancelling earphones on the baby's head to protect his or her
hearing. There was another mother carrying a blond girl up and down the
stairs in our section. I felt like the child was just staring at me
each time they passed. And then of course, there were twins on the
offensive
lines for each team. They were kinda dorky looking, each 6'7" and over
300 pounds. Not that y'all would have been dorky looking or that big,
it's just the fact that there were TWINS playing in the game. Daddy and
I took that as a sign y'all were saying hi. And of course, Monday
Night Football tonight featured the Cincinnati Bengals with their QB,
Andy Dalton. Daddy asked me if I was watching the game and hearing your
name. Of course I was.
I
took Uncle Billy and Daddy to the airport this
morning, uncle so he could go back home to Colorado Springs and Daddy
off to business in Texas. So it's just me and your dog siblings. Abby
seems to be recovering from her ear hematoma. She's such a good dog,
she'd have been so protective of you as your canine big sister. Ike
made an ass of himself on Saturday night when we had everyone over for
lasagna. He was crazy in the pool, nipping at Abby and trying to mount
her. Then, later on, he was barking loudly in your cousin Emily's
face. I did not like that behavior. I don't know what is wrong with
him, but we'll monitor him closely in the future. I don't know if he
was bothered by all the inconsistencies over the past two weeks with us
gone, then back, then everyone over. I think Daddy may have to really
re-establish himself as the strong pack leader.
That's all for now my darlings, as I had originally started writing that 2 weeks ago tonight, and I'm afraid I forgot what else I wanted to write about then.
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