letting her go . . .

It seldom snows in December in South Carolina--or in the first days of January, for that matter. But, that first Christmas home from Carnegie-Mellon, something in the skies above our home wanted to hold Kimberly here. We were snowdrifted, icebound--but she had a plane to catch and I had my new and blue Bonneville to slipslide our way to the nearby airport in and . . . Wonder if that something in the skies above our home knew that someone in Pittsburgh would steal our firstborn away from home for keeps . . .

Kimberly comes home to us--Albrecht, Kelsey, Garrett, and Kira Rose in tow--every Christmas season, even now.

If you love somebody, let them go, for if they return, they were always yours . . . ." -- Kahlil Gibran

a flute story . . .

lights, camera, Kimberly????

bathing beauty

Christmas at Mama's: 1976

For Jamie and Michelle, this would be their one Christmas Day at Mama's house--that last winter we lived in the Virginia mountains outside Charlottesville. But for Kimberly, who spent her first two Christmases here healing Mama's heart after Granddaddy Owens died, this Christmas was about coming home . . .

Like the angel on her white Christmas stocking, Kimberly was our hope on the darkest of days, in the darkest of times . . .


Above the mantle in this picture hung a portrait of her grandfather. There are no pictures of Kimberly with Granddaddy Owens--except the one in my memory.

It's a July afternoon in 1969. Daddy's sitting on one of those folding lawn chairs on the brick patio just outside the room pictured here, holding his first grandchild in his lap . . . I so want to snap that picture, for her, but I know he would want, in her created memory, to be the man in that portrait above the mantle. So I put the camera, and the wish, away--but never, ever, the memory of that July afternoon in 1969.

a season for celebrations:

Kimberly's birthday, Easter, and spring

always a writer . . .

Did Kimberly ever tell you about winning the Lieutenant Governor's Essay Contest--not just for her school but for her entire school district--in eighth grade? And that she had to read her essay to the school board and its audience? Bet she hasn't, shy baby that she still is! But she was a gifted writer long before she knew she wanted to be a gifted writer . . . Then and now, I was and am so proud of her accomplishments :-)

and Mommy made both dresses :-)

how quickly she grew . . . but some things never change--like the smile on her lips and in her eyes :-)

Minuet and Dance of the Blessed Spirits

Even as a child I was intrigued by the love story of Orpheus and Eurydice . . . My first encounter with this musical selection from Gluck's opera of the same name (as the love story) was Kimberly's gift to us. Her first public performance of this piece? Her brother's First Communion--on his 9th birthday.

Not so many years ago she surprised me--made me cry, too!--by playing this piece in church during one of my visits to Pittsburgh. Of all the music with which she has enriched my life, this is our closest tie, our song. I guess that also makes James Galway, whom she had the honor of meeting in person when he visited South Carolina many years ago, our musician.


Thank you, Kimberly, for this gift, this memory, beyond price!

She has a reputation, I hear,

for creating the most original Halloween costumes on the block. What you may not know is that practice is what made her perfect at the art of disguise . . . Check out the gypsy and her impish brother captured for posterity here . . . Wouldn't you love to know her thoughts?