So this is it. One year of hoping for our little Shope with you, dear friends. As I wrote before, so much has happened, and so much is yet to come. I braced for the worst as this day inched ever closer. (Funny that we attach such weight to arbitrary dates, isn’t it?) Then, just when I needed to see it most, this arrived.

The note that came with it is so splendid and personal and touching and kind, I was reduced to tears from the first line immediately. Suffice it to say that I am, as I have written time and time again, immensely blessed by the love of our friends and family. A most amazing friend gave me this gorgeous trinket this weekend. When I have it around my neck, it reminds me that we are so, so not alone. And that we are so, so loved.

This little necklace is also a small reminder of something huge and intangible: That “one day” is real. It exists. We just have not gotten there yet.

But we will.