Our Math was Always Wrong.

{circa 2001}

{circa three days ago, 2013}

Well aren't these two a pair?!  Terry Lynn and I have been basically inseparable since 9th grade, when we were paired to learn Trigonometry together.  I admit that I still don't know the difference between sines, cosines, and tangents (BAD BAD ASIAN), but I definitely ended that year with a new best friend.  Since then, we have been through:

1.  Three full length NSYNC albums (No Strings, Home for Christmas, and Celebrity), and all subsequent solo ventures by Justin Timberlake
2.  .....the heartbreak when Lance Bass came out.  He was our fave!
3. The sensation of her epic 16th birthday party.  Everyone at school came, I wore platform white sneakers, she was the belle.
4. Both of us leaving our tiny little private Christian high school, in favor of public funding to head straight to Eastern Wash U for our Jr and Sr years of high school.  We got in lots of trouble.
5. Both of us getting arrested at 4am on the side of a highway during the first snow of the year.  She was indignant, I was devastated that my political career was then over before it ever started or I had ever wanted one.
6. A few engagements to the wrong dude on her part, a few terrible dating stories on my part.
7. A period where we couldn't even like each other, and basically only communicated through our maintained relationship with her mom, whom we always shared no matter what.
8. A reunion and a shared apartment as full on post-grad adults.  Frequent congratulations to each other and reassurances that we already knew Everything.
9.  The birth of my goddaughter. When she told me, "Soooooooo, we have something to tell you...", I snorted and barked "what, you guys are pregnant."  Isn't that such a sweet story?
10. Seeing each other less and less, as I started to run around the country and world more and more.....
11. Picking up right where we left off, every single time.
12. Getting fat (see multiple chins in first photo)
13. Getting fit (see single chin in second photo)
14. Showing her that old photo and she groans, "I see why my mom kept telling me my eyebrows were too thin....."
15. Watching her finally meet the Guy, sighing with relief that he's not like All the Others.
16. ..... and in November, standing beside her as she marries that dude!  I bet I won't even cry.

Poopsie's Making Cookies!

Every so often, I ask Terry Lynn to send me a Sammy Bomb, my term for a MMS photo of whatever the little Poopsie is doing at the moment.  This is the clear winner this month.  Lordy, I love her!

Another Lovely Year.

Two weeks ago Sammy turned TWO.

There's so much that she now can do!

She loves water with ice,

your electronic device,

but most of all time spent à deux.

Happy Second Birthday Precious Girl!  I love you to the moon and beyond.

Sam's latest.

My sweet sweet goddaughter is just advancing herself way too rapidly for me.

Yes, this is the view of her I see most often.  Because I can barely keep up with her.  Isn't she the greatest?

My Poopsie is so precious. 

One Love.

A day ago Sammy turned one.

but Aunt Mimi was gone, no fun!

but she said to eat cake,

to give mom a break,

smile big and I LOVE YOU A TON!

Happy Birthday, Poopsie! Big smoochies for you!

Sweet Sam.

I have joined the ranks of Dads and Grandparents everywhere in being completely wrapped around a little girl's finger.  I'm gonna be a cheeseball about this.  I think about her all the time, I wonder what kind of girl she will become, and I wonder how much I will get to do with it.  I worry that she isn't being given what she deserves.  It's hard to love a little thing like her; you want to jump all over her world, spray her with invisa-shield and slay all dragons that dare threaten her every joy.    Sometimes I'm bitter with TL for bringing her into my life and making me fall for her before I was ready to settle down and help more.  That's really immature, I realize, but I feel secure knowing that I have made no guarantees of maturity on this thread.  All the same, as soon as I feel bitter I then feel so thankful because TL has never given me anything so great as Sam.  In all issues Sam-related, I find myself torn.  Wouldn't it be the right thing to do to just swallow my antsyness and go home for a while?  I could help out, be there to help raise her, start my subliminal messages about the Zags, Hudson jeans, and Apple computers.  In the same breath, won't I have so much more to offer Sam if I see as much as I can now, in order to tell her things later?  Am I just a selfish, silly girl chasing butterflies or is there some substance to my wandering?  There is no clarity. Lordy, I need to get out of Texas.  The grease in the air is getting to my head.  

Just a taste.

Cuddle party....BYOBinky.






Of the bliss I am in. It's love, I'm sure of it.
Sammy Lou has long fingers, long toes, and light brown hair. She came out looking like her mom, but is morphing into a carbon copy of her daddy by the hour. She is a love.
.....more pictures and updates on The Becker Blog.

This I Pledge

What Sam will learn from her Aunt Mimi:

1: how to wear a tutu proudly. 

2: how to harmonize to the radio.

3: how to write the perfect essay.

4: how to parallel park.....a bus....in downtown san francisco.  

5: how to tie the perfect bow, and french braid her own hair.  

6: that adventure and life wait for no convenience.

7: how to make lists, weigh pros and cons. 

8: that accessories make an outfit. 

9: to love musical theatre......and Gonzaga Basketball.

10: how to use a power drill.  

11:  that it's better to ask forgiveness than permission. 

12: to choose a career based on the kind of life you desire.  

13: how to run home to the family and friends whom have loved her before they knew her.  

I start tomorrow.  

On This Day.

1825 - The U.S. House of Representatives elected John Quincy Adams president.

1895 - The first college basketball game was played as Minnesota State School of Agriculture defeated the Porkers of Hamline College, 9-3.

1895 - Volley Ball was invented by W.G. Morgan.

1953 - The movie "Superman" premiered.

1960 - The first star was placed on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

1969 - The Boeing 747 flew its inaugural flight. 

1971 - The Apollo 14 spacecraft returned to Earth after mankind's third landing on the moon.

2009 - My life changed forever. She's here.  Samantha Louise Becker.  7lbs, 1 oz.  Nineteen perfect inches of little girl.  

LOOK.

This is my goddaughter, Samantha Louise.  She is 37.5 weeks cooked in the belly.  We got this little treasure via 3D ultrasound last weekend.  I am in love.