1. First delivery of private label tortelloni from Italy on time. Check. Smooth take-over. Check. Samples for marketing. Check. Accompanying documents OK. Check.

2. Swimming in the sea under a mackerel sky. The clouds look like cushions, indeed, just like Em said.

3. Our little mermaid Jay’s fair hair in the water as she demonstrates her face-up dead man’s float.

    

1. I run into an acquaintance at the local library that I really like. She shares about her children, and I can see she is overwhelmed with feelings.

2. Jay is looking forward to starting school so much that she is counting days. And she knows she will be making many new friends. Although she already has a friend, Becca. But Becca is different from her: her talking is very quiet. And I tell her that it is good that people differ from one another. Then she starts laughing and says: “Everybody should be the same! Everybody should be like ME!” She sees the fake astonishment on my face and responds with a big smile: “But you look like me.”

3. First Jay reads rhymes from the book about Muri the cat, then Em joins her and they tease one another and bounce all over the big bed till it’s time to sleep.

1. A breeze of fresh air in the church brings an instant relief.

2. I watch the baby's eyelids droop. My Mother keeps singing to him, rocking him gently in her arms.

3. It’s a heartbreaking movie and nothing to do with anything I ever experienced but it’s a wonderful opportunity to cry a little and let go a lot.

1. I tell her that I have been looking forward to these two days too much to listen to things I don’t want to talk and even think about.

2. The baby tears the wrapping paper off the gift Jay has brought and a little singing turtle shows up. My cousin smiles and says they have just been talking about having to get a toy to bathe with.

3. Rolling in the wholegrain flakes made the procedure all but dull and the final appearance misleading. Jay's amazement: “Isn’t there any chocolate in the cookies?”

1. I find Jay making something out of pink wool. Cutting, weaving in the middle of the living room carpet. A necklace for me.

2. I am not an afternoon napping person. And all I really wanted was a stretch on the bed after putting away a pile of dry laundry.

3. Just embrace the present as it is, or fight it? It's a paralyzing in-between that I get caught in, and I am more than grateful for laughter of my girls' that brings me back from there every time.

1. I got carried away watching the heavy raindrops outside, but then I looked around and realized I wasn't the only one. It's been a blazing summer.

2. What was supposed to be »pick the one perfect book for that very special person and go«  extended into a long meeting with good old friends that I hadn't seen for a long time, only that they were all new and nicely exhibited or lined on the bookshelves.

3. It is wonderful to watch the girls have such a great time, with a friend sleeping over and another two playmates turning up in our yard to play in the sandbox, hula-hoop, skipping rope and homemade pizza breaks in the breezy late afternoon.

1. The sky is golden and I feel like this magic has been made just for me.

2. 
   

   I complete the final draft of the contract that has been negotiated for nearly three months. I know I am just a few minor changes and a couple of days away from having it signed by all parties.

3. 
   

   “She is a very persistent little girl”, says the nurse. My thought, exactly. Indeed, Jay wanted the doctor to keep trying to remove the earwax, partially occluding both her ear canals. It took much longer than expected and more than one method had to be applied. While she was sitting in my lap I couldn’t help but admire her endurance and determination to have this unpleasantry over and done with in one sitting.