there was a snowstorm in Colorado Springs. I remember it very well since I was on my way to the hospital around 9PM on Dec. 23.

By 5 AM, we heard the sounds of things we both found joy and sadness in.  While I walked off my labor in the hallways of the old Fort Carson hospital (picture on the left), I overheard the nurses discussing one of the recent births, a stillbirth. They pondered why a mother who had only one living child after six pregnancies would keep trying. All I could think of was ... what a horrible way to remember what should be a season of happiness and joy, the death of a child. One of the nurses informed me that my baby would have the same birthday as her father, Christmas Eve.

Kevin had done twenty four hours of CQ (Charge of Quarters) duty the day before and kept nodding off. I told him to go stretch out on the couch in the waiting room and I'd have the nurse come and get him when I was ready to go into the delivery room. When that time came, the nurse came back in with a smile on her face. She said that she found him on the floor and when she asked why he wasn't on the couch, he told her that it was easier to stay on the floor since he kept rolling off the couch!

Elizabeth Ann came into our lives on 24 December 1983 at 04:44 AM MST. She wrapped her small fist around her father's finger and was daddy's little girl from that moment on. Best Christmas gift ever. She endures teasing about being brought by Santa instead of a stork.

To those of you celebrating Christmas, I wish you and yours the best of the season. Good health and happiness to you all.