When Savannah Smiles....

This is a huge week for all of us here in our world: School started, my oldest kids, Gregg and Savannah, have been hustling to find after school jobs and my husband is home after a month of touring on the road with Lynyrd Skynyrd. Busy just doesn't paint the picture with enough color. It's been the fast and the furious around here. And in the middle of it all I am watching my first baby girl attempt to maneuver through a very tough transition in her personal life. Her boyfriend, Blake, is leaving this Thursday to attend UT Knoxville. Just witnessing her internal struggle is enough to make my own eyes spring leaks. I know that she will conquer this change --- they both will. I even have, down in my gut, a bit of optimism that they just may make it all the way home to a family of their very own one day. But right now, my heart is longing for something --- priceless. I'm longing for my daughter and her very special guy to know peace. Dare I even say --- to have some fun and joy these last 48 hours. I understand that this may be unattainable, after all, there is a dark cloud of the unknown on their horizon. But I also believe, for my husband, myself and now Blake, that there may be nothing on earth quite as endearing as when Savannah smiles. I have experienced its force when away from it too long. It's one of the first things her daddy longs to see when he returns to us from off the road. I wonder if it will light the way home for Blake as well. Hmmm....