You know, with GC and Netta in full labor/delivery mode, I couldn't help but travel down memory lane. Seems I spend a lot of time there lately, but I guess that's what happens when the life you thought you had, the life you wanted, doesn't always "work out."

I have a photo bulletin board above my desk (and computer) and as I hear the developments in the stubborn muffin saga, I can't help but look to my board of pictures. (btw, I had one photo up there that is no longer there)

Other than my two precious puppy dogs, there are a few others. There's one of me immediately after delivery, holding little z-man, barely just over six pounds and predicted not even to make it to term because of my Crohn's.

I always thought I looked horrid in those pregnant photos, because my GI doc had to pump me with steroids...but now I look at them and I can see the actual glow about me that so many people speak of in pregnant women.

And I have other photos up there...him with his Auntie Beth at the Zoo in Ok City, him with his little two year old body asleep in the big green recliner that we spent so many hours in when he was a colicky baby in his first few months. Him in our "hood" with his three best friends, him at a race (I love that photo) and him with his real father (not his biological father, but his real father) at another race. And me and him at the pool, which used to be one of his favorite places to be (we called him a water baby)

We love to watch "Bones" together, we go out and about to restaurants and "shopping" or browsing.

and most of all, we're there for each other. When I'm feeling a bit down, he's the only one there to offer me a hug, tell me he loves me and I do the same for him.

In life, besides animals, a parent/child relationship is the only unconditional love we'll know. If you give a child that love, that child will always give it back. But that is most certainly the key it has to be unconditional.

It's a very special thing, and no one should ever forsake that bond for their own insecurities, wants, or desires.

No one! But sadly they do.