Lori Anne

Lori was born at Holloman AFB, NM on November 17th, 1969. Holloman AFB is near Alamogordo NM and over 1400 miles and more than 22 hours away from our families at that time.

I'd love to talk about her birth but that's a story for "looking back". Right now I'm thinking about the day that that sweet angel was born. She was, by far, the most beautiful baby I'd ever seen in my life. Something besides Lori was born to me that day. Something I didn't know existed until I looked at her beautiful face. At that moment I felt the most overpowering love that I'd ever felt before. On the telephone I told my mother that I didn't know I could love anything or anyone the way I loved that baby.

We brought her home and she brought us joy from the beginning.

Our first Christmas as a family of three:

And I still remember when my sister came to visit, taking her into Lori's room and waking her, so that my sister could see how she smiled as she woke up.

She was a wonderful toddler - smart and entertaining but she did have a temper. She only displayed it a couple of times but those tantrums were epic. What the poor little girl didn't know was that I was as stubborn as her and she just was not going to get her way.

As the oldest of six children, Lori was always a leader.

Since we wisely had our children in sets of two - two girls a year and a half apart, twin boys, and then two girls 14 months apart, each one always had a best friend and playmate or as I like to joke, someone to fight with.

Lori was a junior high cheerleader and a varsity cheerleader in high school. Here is a picture of Lori and Amy during that proud year when they were both varsity cheerleaders.

And during her senior year, she was team captain. Here's a picture form our local newspaper:

Today, Lori is a proud and loving mother of three teenagers. She's in love with and married to her wonderful husband, Marcus and they all live too far away in Waverly Nebraska.

So, happy birthday my darling daughter. I miss those days when you lived in town and we never passed up an opportunity to have breakfast together. You are truly a wonderful daughter with a personality that lights up every room it touches. (I know this because I have never seen so many birthday greetings for anybody in Facebook!)

Hope your day is stellar - just like you!