Remy's First Birthday!

Today is Remy's first birthday! I made cornbread, which he had never had but I had a feeling he would love. He did! Here are a few highlights:

Hope.

Hope is a word I have been hearing often lately - and I just heard it again while watching the Democratic National Convention on PBS. Yes, Tony and I are watching on PBS, because we don't have cable and they are carrying the entire thing. The announcers are hilarious on PBS. Anyway - I am getting very excited about the election and I really hope that people will take the time to educate themselves about the candidates. I know I have. At least I hope I have. I hope that people won't just do what others are telling them to do - but that they use their own minds and hearts to decide. I do hope that times will change in America - that children like Angela (more about her another time) will be able to attend college in the state where they grew up, even though their families are in the depths of poverty. I do hope that I will have the opportunity to fulfill my dreams and to work to create environments for children and families that will be supportive of their dreams. I do hope that we will bring our troops home without many more having to be honored in next year's Run for the Fallen, which we had yesterday here in Baton Rouge. I do hope that my family - Tony's and my family - will grow up in a safe, clean, progressive environment. I know that we have so many freedoms that we don't even realize that we have, and watching the Olympics and realizing some of the freedoms (of the press, etc.) that they actually don't have in China.

I do hope that Obama wins - yes - but more than that, I hope that Americans, no matter who they are, take the time to decide, for themselves, what they believe and stand by that.