don't answer that.

in other news ... jerm is sad. his grandad passed away last weekend. do you believe in an afterlife? do you think the spirits of those we love hang around and watch over us after they're gone? i'm not sure what to think. i have sensed my gramma j, for whom i was named, from time to time. but is that just longing? is that memory? what is it? well, some interesting things happened the day of the funeral. magnolia always looks you right in the eye while you talk to her. she just stares at you and laughs and smiles and talks. well, all day that day, she would laugh at me a minute, then look at a point over my left shoulder and shoot the biggest smiles we've seen yet. consistently. every single time we tried to talk to her. at the funeral, her little 10-month old cousin was on his mom's lap in the row in front of us. he was turned around facing me and playing with my hair. at some point, he just stops, turns around toward the front of the church, and waves his little chubby hand at the casket. we've been trying to teach him to wave for weeks, and nothing. magnolia slept the whole service until they carried the casket out past us to the back of church. then she squirmed and let out one solitary and lonesome 'wah'.

p.s. a big public thank you to all of you who've complimented the wee one in the gb. i'm a proud mamma, and i love to hear it!