Our Baby Girl

1988.   Jennifer Elaine Kupiec, our baby girl, arrived on a sunny August afternoon at 9 lbs. 4 oz.  bringing with her big, brown angel eyes and a softness that I can’t explain.  Proof that hearts can be stolen.

Too soon, she started weaving string potholders on a metal loom and riding a pink two wheeler.  Next came a tackle box full of glass beads which Jennifer spent hours threading into hand crafted lizards and turtles, some of which still hang from my office drawers.

She cared for yellow, fluffy spring chicks each year and sipped tea with  lions and tigers and bears.  Dollies, sparkly pillows, and Leo DiCaprio posters filled her room.  Giggles, braids, and hopscotch certainly were a breath of fresh air after raising two sons.  The boys reminded her every day that “Pink Stinks” and that she is lucky they let her live with them.

They taught their baby sister important life skills:  to always be the banker when playing Monopoly and how to survive on a little, red sled while being towed at 30 mph by two beasts on a snowmobile.  She  learned how important life jackets are after her oldest brother took her for a “little” boat ride.  He brought her back to our cabin soaking wet–apparently, she wasn’t holding on for dear life good enough and she cartwheeled overboard.  Her other brother, bless his heart, taught her not to volunteer to be buried in the sand or to breathe under water.

High school came and went in a flash filled with dances, gymnastics, puppy love, and tennis.  She became a Michigan State Spartan and opened a business where she met Will, a nice guy from Ann Arbor who did not attend U of M and whom accepts all things Sparty!

2014.  One blink, and she’s in Chicago, at the Signature Restaurant atop the John Hancock Building and calls home to say,  “Mom, I’m engaged!”  Will had the waiter tie the ring onto a purple ribbon wrapped around the wine bottle.  He dropped down on one knee and proposed.  She began to cry and then he wrapped his strong arms around her.  All he needed was a horse and a beautiful sunset to ride off into.

Our baby girl is getting married.  When I first held her in my arms that warm, August day in 1988, I prayed for her to have a happy life full of adventure, love, health, and happiness.  She has found all of these things with Will.  We love him and trust him with her heart.  Will has met her two older brothers and they approve–proving that there is a God and that Will and Jennifer’s love a match made in heaven!