Easter / 40

Greetings to all of our friends and family. Happy Easter. The Gordon Girls did some Easter Egg decoration and hunting. All went well until the final egg was left to be found. Eowyn had five eggs, Seneca had two, and Giana had four. Seneca was standing and crying, and wasn't focused so much on egg-hunting. I thought that it would be fair for Eowyn and Giana to end up with the same number of eggs, so I pointed the last egg out to Giana, then stopped Eowyn from rushing over to get it. Eowyn informed me that I was a big bully, that I wasn't fair, and that I was ruining her life. And she is six! If I am ruining her life now, think of what I'll be doing when she is a teenager! It boggles the imagination. Eowyn ran inside crying, while Giana told me what a good daddy I was. I eventually got Eowyn to agree that it was fair that she and Giana both found five eggs (although, as she pointed out, Giana really didn't find the last one), and that it was okay that her life was ruined.

And yes, if you are wondering, it is my 40th birthday today. Yes, I do feel old, and yes I wonder how I can keep up with my Gordon Girls when they are teenagers and I am in my 50s. I am feeling sorry for myself today, but when I look at my Gordon Girls (Gia included) I realize how blessed I am to be able to spend time with them, even though I am getting old and decrepit. I can't feel too sorry for myself, I suppose, when I am surrounded by youth and beauty.

As many of you know, I will be returning to Iraq this summer for a year long tour as the command judge advocate for a medical unit. I will miss a year of the Girls, with Eowyn going to first grade, Giana getting out of her terrible threes and into four-year-old-hood, and Seneca becoming a little lady and not just a baby. That makes me terribly sad, but I knew what I was in for when I signed up, and these sacrifices are part of the life.