Pizzas of My Heart

"This is Dawn," I answered the phone at my desk at work.

"Sweetie, there's a delivery at the front desk for you."

"Hi, Kurt. Right now? What do you mean?"

"You'll have to sign for it and leave a tip."

Buzz! I gasped! "Helene's calling me. I gotta go!" Oh, yeah, tomorrow is Valentine's Day! What did he do?

I hurried to the front desk where Helene and a Magpies Pizza delivery man waited for me with a large fresh tomato and zucchini pizza. Mmmm... Deep inhale. Lunch! I opened the box and the food was a work of art -- a heart-shaped cheesy wonder!

In my exuberance to eat and share the glorious declaration of my husband's love, sprinkled with garlic and herbs, pieces of the lovingly shaped pizza quickly disappeared, leaving the vague outline of a heart in the cardboard box. That's when it occurred to me to take a picture of my broken pizza with my cell phone camera. While my pizza was torn apart, contrastly, my heart most certainly swelled.

Loving him to "pizzas,"

Dawn

Nathan's Games

Here's my nephew, Nathan, at almost eleven months old (I can't believe it!). Look at all those teeth! I see both his mother and father in that darling face of his. Can't you just hear the laughter? His Grandma was spoon feeding him his dinner while I was disruptively playing peek-a-boo from behind her and around her hoping to catch the joy from our little game with my camera. He gave me more than joy... he always does!

Here are some things that must give Nathan joy because they are his three most frequently used words: "ball," "dog," and "bubble."

Nathan impressed us all with another little game one day. We were all sitting around the table at Cracker Barrel and Gayle asks her little boy, "Nathan, where's Grandpa?" and Nathan looks around the table and stops his eyes on none other than his Grandpa. We all clap and he smiles at the positive attention. "Nathan," his mama continues, "Where's Sarah?" Nathan shifts his gaze to the other end of the table and looks directly at his sister. The table erupts with hoorays and claps again.

Will he know me I began to wonder as Gayle keeps quizzing her son. "Nathan, where's Daddy?" Nathan finds his daddy's familiar face at the table. Cheers! "Nathan, where's Auntie Dawn?" My heart skips a beat. Does he see me enough to really recognize me? Nathan began to move and those darling blue eyes met with mine! What a feeling. Now he's just showing off!

Made You Smile,

Dawn (& Nathan)