Angel #7: "The Littlest Angel."

A brief but bright Angel #8: one of the trade-offs of living 'up north' on a lake is our kids and grandkids (now totalling 11) do not. Although we have a cabin for each of the kids to encourage them to come frequently and stay for a while, life is busy and we don't see them enough. The most heart-rendering for me is when, as babies, if the grands don't see you enough, they look at you like you're a stranger.

Well, last weekend on the pretense of driving, again, to Duluth to help our daughter, Adriann, and son-in-law, Andy, finish their new garage and work on the house, we visited our newest grand daughter, Sylvie (8 months). When I entered the house there was a group surrounding Sylvie, who was sitting on the floor bedazzled by the commotion. She had not seen me yet among the admiring hoard. During a lull, I managed a: "Hey, Sylvie!" Her face whipped around at the sound of my voice, and with the angelic smile I got I knew the rest of the day...the rest of the week...the rest of the month, heck...the rest of my life would be good.