Thoughts after a phone call and Skype session with my daughters and wife who have been in Kansas for nearly three weeks and are returning tomorrow.  

“I forgot what you looked like,”

laughed the six year old,

coming into view,

smiling with two less teeth than before,

and gazing intently at the screen ,

at me.

I had forgotten too.

Not what she looks like,

but what effect

that gaze has on me.

Reminded,

she reminds me she will soon be seven,

and arrangements must be made:

to celebrate

this occasion,

this passing of time,

this flowering of a life,

as if out of nowhere.

To mark

this radiant and unlikely existence

we share.