A Milestone

Clover has a self-professed "milestone" birthday today. Nope, no black arm bands or dirges from me! I chose this picture instead because it exemplifies her - both in the past and for the future. It is one of my favorite pictures of recent vintage. We were at Fossil, Oregon and she was learning how to properly dig fossils. Why? Because she was curious and it was something we had never done. And that is Clover in a nutshell.

The West and its wide open spaces is for people who give it their all and that would be my wife. She treasures her Virginia heritage and fondly remembers Chicago, but whether she realizes it or not, she is really cut out for the West. If we had lived 150 years ago, I'm convinced that she would have been a pioneer on the Oregon Trail because she has that restless American spirit that is always seeking the next frontier. Like the pioneers, she is curious, well read, fiercely loyal ( heaven help you if you go after one of her "cubs"), fiercely determined, a person of faith, spontaneous, opinionated (did I really say that?), compassionate, loving, kind and generally goes after life with gusto. She has influenced a huge number of children, starting with our own, and more than a few adults along the way as well. It's been quite a ride and I wouldn't have wanted to do it with anybody else. So, own it - you've earned it. You done good. And we still have frontiers to conquer.

Happy Birthday babe!