My little girl

She sat in the armchair by the sliding glass doors 

watching and waiting. A look of concern darkening 

her usually happy face.

Bryan and his girlfriend had arrived that evening 

and Alexis had received a phone call about her 

grandfather - he was likely to die at any time. 

Alexis' eyes had teared up and she left out the sliding 

glass door no doubt for some alone time to collect 

herself and have a smoke away where the children 

wouldn't see her.

Dolly waited.

When she came back Dolly gave her one of her 

signature tree frog hugs - legs wrapped around her 

waist and arms thrown tightly around her neck.

Saturday Bryan and Alexis stayed behind while we 

shopped in downtown Disney. The Twinkies free 

birthday passes also came with $63 Disney Dollars 

a piece. Gapetto and the Bunny went one direction 

and the Dolly and I headed off for jewelry.

We looked and looked and added up different things, 

then we looked some more. I thought perhaps she 

just couldn't get over the hump of actually spending 

any of it so I was talking to her about how much 

I knew she REALLY wanted the charm bracelet. 

She quietly led me off in another direction.

Finally we added up her things: one charm bracelet 

and four additional charms, one pink Disney watch 

and a light green necklace with a big 'crystal' jem 

on it - exactly $63. [I threw in the tax money.]

I put the charms on her bracelet and hooked it on 

her wrist, I pulled out the watch and did the same. 

She began to close up the box and put it away.

'Dolly don't you want to wear your pretty necklace?'

She shook her head no.

'It's for Alexis.'

How I love that little girl.

Happy Birthday Twinkies!

Number seven. 

The Dolly wouldn't let us say it to her until 9:14 this morning. 

Then she bummed out when Grammy and Poppy sang 

Happy Birthday to the Bunny at 9:00.

'It's not fair - they should wait for me to turn seven!'

Ahhhh - were all our problems this serious...

Disney: in the middle

I LOVE this photo.

I am in the front following my bliss...

The Bunny is next to me TOTALLY in to it.

[After every wild ride we get the requisite

'That was AWESOME!!!']

The Dolly is behind him Screaming. In. Terror. 

Gapetto is beside her sort of hidden but happy. 

Grammy has her whole face slammed shut 

and Poppy is just beginning to react.

Here are my babies last night at the Polynesian -

great place for viewing fireworks.

And to REALLY inject some birthday bliss

Bryan and his girlfriend arrived tonight.

Happy 7th birthday (tomorrow) little lovies! 

Disney: in the beginning

'Are you telling the truth?'

'What about school?'

"Does this mean we are not going to the skate park this afternoon?'

[Oh yes he did!]

More soon...

The secret...

Pssst - we are leaving for Disney on Sunday. 

The Bunny and the Dolly have no idea - 

a 7 year old birthday surprise of the highest order!

                       * * * * * * * *

This is our Cherry tree today - first day of spring!

And now, The Dolly LLama

When Gapetto and I returned from our jaunt up to the 

Northeast [a little worn out and craving some baby-love] 

we were presented with this note from the Dolly, 

along with lots of hugs and kisses.

[And of course the requisite 'did you bring me a present?']

Letter to Bryan 7/20/99

Dear Bryan,

I received your beautiful letter yesterday and I think you

did get it just right. And I think you are a handsome devil

even if you do look like me! I would love to see you when

you are in Metropolis of the Deep South and would like to

invite you to stay with us. From what I have read you have

turned out to be a remarkable young man and this is a very

happy and joyous occasion.

I too have thought often about you over the years - certainly

every April 1st and many times in between. It is just incredible

to hear from you and I so look forward to getting to know you.

I wonder who will have more questions? Or if either one of us

will be able to get a word in edgewise. There is so much to

share I think I will just leave it for when you come.

I do want to update you on a few things. I am no longer

married to Mr. In-the-Wrong-Place-at-the-Wrong-Time -

it didn't work out but we parted on pretty good terms.

(he has one of the cats) But I am very happily married to

my soulmate Gapetto and we are hoping to start a family

of our own. I don't have an other children (yet). I do have

a chocolate lab who may as well be my child - that's a

picture of her that I have attached. I'd send you one of

me but don't have one at work.

You and Melanie are both very welcome in our

home and Gapetto and I would love to have you

stay with us if you feel comfortable with that.

We have a big old house in Mayberry which is about

6 miles from downtown Metropolis of the Deep South

and is a great little town. We are busily renovating

it and would like to show it off to you. You'll be the

first people to see our new kitchen

Bryan, you have given me a great gift along with your

parents. Contacting me and meeting feels so good

to me - it completes something started so long ago

and it starts something wonderful and new. In my

wildest dreams I didn't dare hope for such a wonderful

opportunity. I look forward to hearing from you and

seeing you. Please let me know your travel plans and

dates you might arrive if you can.

Love,

Merrily

[Wasn't it Lawrence Welk who always said wonderful, wonderful?]

When my brother came over.

This is a guest post by none other than the Bunny Rabbit.

To say that he loves his big brother Bryan would be an 

understatement of serious magnitude...

Flummoxed...

'Hello?'

'Hi Merrily - it's MK'

'Are you alright?'

'I'm in the hospital - my biopsies revealed I have 

cancer in both lungs'

"Oooh, MK..."

Camera zooms in on Merrily as background fades 

and zooms away from her.

Only this is not a movie.

This is Thursday morning. 

And MK is worried about Dim...

I've know MK's husband Uncle Dim [as my young twins 

called him] since 1980 when we both arrived for art 

school.The school had rented half of an apartment 

complex to house the students and Dim and his 

roommates lived right next door to me and mine.

It was party at first sight.

Dim and his roommate JS were in Visual Communications 

as was I. JS was second year but Dim was first like me. 

We were in school together for 2 years.

We hung out together, partied together, vacationed 

together. We had a group of about 10 in our posse. 

Wild we were.

Dim looked like Roger Daltry, long curly blonde hair 

and he had a girlfriend in Columbus GA he called his 

'chick' [he will deny this if you ask him but it is the 

truth]. He was the first real southern boy I ever met - 

he was bonafide. At one point we considered dating 

but decided against it.

Over time jobs and moves and loves split most of us 

up. Ironically the midwestern girl stayed [that would 

be me].

In 1996 I was working at the Olympics when I heard a 

familiar male voice call my name. It was Dim with a 

date. He kept saying ‘you look exactly how I thought 

you would.’ He introduced me to MK, an Irish-Catholic 

girl from a big family up north. She had dark hair and 

impossibly merry blue eyes – black Irish as my mother 

would say. We chatted for awhile and exchanged 

numbers promising to get together.

MK told me later that she asked Dim if she was some 

weird sort of replacement for me.

I was dating Gapetto and we planned an evening out 

with them. We enjoyed ourselves and promised to do 

more together.

They got married in Rochester and a year or two later 

we were married here and moved into our house. 

We began hanging out in earnest. MK and I decided we 

were Evil Party Twins [or EPTs] - we seemed to just 

have way to much fun together and would generally 

pay for it the next morning. They took to packing 

overnight bags when they came over sometimes not 

leaving for three days.

And then.

MK’s job took them to Jacksonville. We had tickets to 

visit them before they even moved. We cried...

‘I thought we would raise our children together.’

I was going for the jugular.

They were just gone a year or two before they moved 

back. I helped Dim find their house before MK even 

moved back here – it is about 4 miles from ours.

I finally became pregnant and had the twins. Dim and 

MK were first on the call list. MK came on her lunch 

hour and was the very first to see them and hold them. 

We discovered later that she more than likely conceived 

that week as she had a little girl 9 months later. Life 

was changing like crazy but we were on parallel tracks.

And then. 

Our husbands both seemed to go through some mid-life 

type thing and were getting rather argumentative 

with each other. Dim and MK were making lots of new 

friends in their new neighborhood. MK and I vowed 

that our husbands’ spats would not interfere with our 

friendship but of course we didn’t spend as much 

time together. 

I missed her.

Just lately we had started to do things again. She was 

going in for the biopsies and the doctors were sure 

they would rule out cancer. They are very surprised 

with the results - as we all are.

MK is 41 years old.

She is a fighter.

She will have a PET scan soon and then will begin 

very aggressive chemo treatments. 

The cancer is inoperable. 

It has not been staged yet.

She is a fighter.

Her daughter is six years old. Her whole life is ahead 

of her and MK will want to be there.

She is a fighter.

I will be there to help – however I can – with her 

innumerable other friends.

She is a fighter.

And I am flummoxed...

The deep south?