Congratulations! A New Baby!

He’s little and he’s green.

Woohoo! You need to congratulate us! We have a new baby! And we didn’t even know he was possible after all this time! What a huge surprise for Paul and I! A baby!!

So here’s the back story.

Twenty-six years ago our daughter was running for the Student Council at her elementary school. She was in the fourth grade and was a little bit unsure about putting herself out there.

On my way home from school on the evening before the election, I stopped at the grocery store. After picking up the things I needed, I headed toward the checkout. I noticed a display of very small plants in cup-sized planters. They were cute! One was labeled as a “Dragon Tree” and knowing my daughter’s interest in the Hobbit, I decided to get it for her.

Once home, I wrote her a little note. “Whatever the results are tomorrow, I am so proud of you for running!”

Well, she didn’t win the election, but she did like the tiny Dragon. She kept it in her room.

She kept it there, in fact, for the next eight years. It lived in a corner of her cluttered, dirty, crowded room. And there it grew and grew, sending up one long, spindly trunk and a small plume of palm-like leaves.