I'm a Sap

Jim and Gracie at Easter 2000

Gracie's 2nd Birthday. The girl loved Diet Coke. We did not have kids yet because I would never buy a 2 year old DC now. :)

Steph and Gracie with Ryan a few days after he was born.

Summer at Six Flags. Anyone notice the cute Clouse kids? :)

Residency graduation 2004. Steph and I were both pregnant at the time. She would not be happy with me for putting up this picture, but it was the most recent one I had of the four of us.

I admit it. I am sap. It does not take much to make tears come to my eyes, good or bad. Books, movies, TV shows, thinking of my family, even the occasional commercial. Today was no exception (the PMS that I am experiencing right now doesn't help matters either). I received such a sweet note from Steph, one of my friends from residency. She recently had a baby and was thanking me for the baby gift I had sent her. I wasn't surprised to get a thank you from her, but was by the beautiful note she wrote. I left me in tears. I have been thinking of them a lot lately and regretting the fact that we don't keep in better contact. In the note, she wrote how much our family's friendship meant to them and how they consider us family. Anyone that has been through residency in a location far away from family, know how important it is to have good friends. We all spent many holidays together when the hubbies were working too much for us to go home. Steph and her husband were some of the first friends we made in San Antonio. Jim and Mitch were in the same residency class. Their daughter was 18 months (I think) and we took a liking to her right away since we didn't have children of our own until 3rd year. We spoiled her! It was so easy to do because she was such a doll. Jim and I were known as "Mimmie and B" to Gracie and then also to their other children. In fact, most of our group in San Antonio called me "B"  :). They are also an important part of our 9/11 memories. Mitch and Steph didn't have cable then, so they and their two kids at the time spent the day at our house watching all of the horrific news footage. Ryan was born the next day.

I don't know for sure why I am writing this all or why this note got to me so much. Maybe it was just nice to know that someone would take the time to write such nice things. Like Oprah says (corny, I know), we all need to know that we matter, that we are loved. And that is so true. At any age or stage of our life. We just want to know that we matter. Thank you Steph for the beautiful note. It meant more than you will ever now.  We hope to see you and your family soon.  

(Sorry for the pictures being at the top. I am having problems again cutting and pasting my pictures with my Mac. Any suggestion?)