I hadn't lived in LA for very long, only 5 months. And there I was being wheeled out of Cedars-Sinai Hospital just on the outskirts of Beverly Hills, getting the red-carpet, celebrity leaving-the-hospital treatment. Leaving with the coolest thing, evah! The cute little warm, amazing little gal I'd only just met twenty-five years ago. The ride back home to Echo Park was a sunny one. We made the requisite top at Tommy Burgers at Beverly and Rampart, what my hubby had lived on while I was at Cedars. We parked the car at the street. A huge delivery truck was parked outside our house at the bottom of the stairs too. There were two responses we got when we received deliveries at our house. One, they always called before coming up the one hundred stairs to our front door. And, two, laughter, OK lots of time it was just awe. I was thrilled. Joe brought a chair down from the house for me. My mom took Candy up the steps while I waited for the delivery men to finish delivering the baby furniture. It was one of those in-between moments. One of those beautiful sunny, watching-shadows-dance-on-the-asphalt moments. Watching-the-cars-go-by moments. I was a mother. I had a daughter. I'd stroll the streets of Echo Park with my sweet little girl. And, I'd need to climb 100 stairs, soon.

Luckily they were terraced every ten steps. Joe and I took them ten at a time, each time he'd move the chair up ten stairs higher. I had strict orders not to over-do as the C-section stitches were only removed the day before. But what did I know about overdoing as a young mom. It took two hours to reach the top. And you might think they were the most miserable hours. But, they really weren't. They were amazing. Joe hit the hammock for a two hour nap when we got to the top. Mom asked me what I'd like. I said a Moosehead. I really shouldn't have, but after that climb no one argued with me. Candy slept. Mom and I sat on the deck, seemingly miles away from the center of LA. Enjoying the Cypress blowing in the breeze.

Happy Birthday, Sweetheart.

Both of my girls have been such a big part of Winnemucca, which was born just last Friday. As it turns out, I have all my babies in the summer. I'll update next week.