July 16,2002

That is a date I will never forget. It's the day that we went from being a family of 4 to a family of 5 with the birth of our little man Jack. When I first found out I was pregnant just 4 short months after giving birth to our second son Adam, I was not real excited about the impending arrival of this new little person in our home. Six years later and many many many laughs I wouldn't trade him for anything in the world. He has brought so much joy into everyone's life that knows him. You can't spend five minutes with this kid without smiling or laughing. God must have known our family of 4 wasn't quite complete. Here is a pic of Jack, that is just so Jack.



This particular date holds another special place in my heart. As I was going in that morning for my scheduled C-section. My dear friend Dorothy was going into the hospital as well, for a kidney transplant. Dorothy was my boss at The Mulberry Bush, a daycare I worked at in Clarksville. You couldn't ask for a better boss than "D" as we so fondly refer to her. :) Not only was she my boss, she was a wonderful friend who I still call my friend to this day!!! "D" had problems with her kidneys for a long time and they were getting to where they weren't functioning that well at all. Her amazing husband Gregg was her living donor. That is one loving husband!!! We used to joke all the time about "D" and her kidney transplant, and no one had a better sense of humor about it than she did. Her and I would joke about it all the time. To the point that some of the other employees didn't think it was a laughing matter. But that is typical Dorothy style to laugh it off. I love that about her. My favorite memory of her is at my last Christmas Party right before I left Ft Campbell and we were all opening up our gift exchange presents and I was Dorothy's secret santa. She was so suprised to find out that I'd had her. We had to give gifts the whole week before and some of the gifts I gave her was a can of kidney beans, a pill box (for all her pills she has to take for the rest of her life) and some other gifts that were funny and light. Dorothy got the biggest kick out of all those gifts and thought it was the funniest thing. For her final gift I'd given her a scrapbook with a poem that I had written to her and I can't remember everything I wrote in it but I know the final lines on it were something like this...

" July 16th was so wacky and wild, you got a new kidney, I got a new child"

The look on her face was priceless. She was crying and I was crying. I literally left from that party and drove out of town for our next duty station, so I was a mess. But before I left, Dorothy, Patty and a few other girls stood up and sang me "That's What Friends are For" I will never forget as long as I live how sad I was to leave Clarksville TN. I know that people there loved me and they knew how much I loved them. It was our very first duty station in the Army and one I will never forget. That is because of the amazing people I met there like Dorothy!!!

I love you Dorothy, even though we don't see each other very often and don't talk all the time!!! You will forever be in my heart and every year when we celebrate Jack's birthday I will always be thinking of you too my friend!!!

Happy Birthday Jack!!!

Happy Birthday to Dorothy/Gregg's Kidney!!!! :)