Lilly Grace Clark

Lilly Grace is the newest member of the family. The smallest, the most talked about. A healthy, smiling, chubby baby. The best kind. Adorable even through a Skype conversation. Always moving, always playing, smiling, occasionally stopping for a wave or a shrug, but then back to the games. The endless games, and the tireless mother who must play each and every one. Sometimes it's hard to tell who's enjoying it more. Sometimes it's not. Lilly hasn't learned to hide her emotions yet. If she's like Ellie, that day might never come.

Today, Lilly is eleven months old. Even her age - still counted in months, not years - is cute. The eleven months don't feel as distant as I suppose they should. I remember learning how to hold a relatively newborn Lilly, because she couldn't support her own head yet. I've never sweated so much holding something so small and light. Then, I would watch her lie on her back, as she stared at the world with her big eyes, and kicked and gaggled and laughed, and that was how she played. Now she stands on her own, but still wobbly as a drunk. She rides Lilly Lamb and eats cheese by herself and even pursues a tired old beagle in the hopes of grabbing a handful of fur. She has grown [if you think her belly is impressive in this photo, you should see her now]. And continues to do so at an exceptional rate.

Along with her growth, I have watched my sister become a mother, radiating love, laughter. Always love and laughter. In every bath, in every meal of chicken and peas and avocado, love and laughter. I have seen my brother-in-law become a father, a proud, beaming one, who now has twice the amount of pink and green under his roof. Lilly has grown and brought love with her. Just as Amelia did when she was born.

"It [Amelia's birth] created a new little room in my heart and the new love grew there, and its light shone through the window and made my world brighter than it had been before." - Dad.

*[Read the rest of Dad's blog here. You won't find a more simple and honest discussion on love. Or more worthwhile.]
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I talked to Amelia and Lilly on Skype today. After I hung up, I realized that this little person has done nothing but made me smile since I've known her. When she laughs, I do. When she waves, I wave back. When she growls, I growl back and when she chews on her toes I laugh some more. What an exceptional gift. To bring genuine, constant happiness into a world that is desperately missing some. Leading a good life, in its most basic sense, means leaving the world a better place than you found it. And without saying a word, without doing anything other than being her happy self, so vulnerable, so honest, she has already done that in the most zen of ways - by not even trying to.

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I don't know much about babies, I'll admit. I'm fairly certain Lilly can't talk. Or read. But I'd like to end this with a short little letter to her, before she turns one. Sometimes it's nice writing a letter to someone knowing they won't read it for some time.

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Dear Lilly,

I wonder how many teeth you'll have when you read this. I'm guessing more than you do now. I can count your teeth sometimes when you smile. By my last count, you're at five or six now. I hope you keep smiling, not just so I can count your teeth. Because when you smile, Mommy and Daddy smile. So does Granny and thin-haired Grandpa. So do I. And plus, when you smile, Daddy is more likely to cave in and buy you things. Like candy. And ponies.

So keep smiling and waving. There's not enough of it in the world.

-Your proud godfather,
Edward.

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