2020 Life Logs, Day 273: Happy 45th Birthday to Heather
Date: Wednesday, September 30, 2020
Weather: Rain Early, Then Mostly Cloudy & Windy; High 72, Low 59 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, Falmouth, MA

After 31 hours of hard labor, Heather Martin Handley was born late on the last night of September in 1975. She was born in an apartment in Alexandria, Virginia. Yes, she was born at home with a doctor and a mid-wife in attendance. As I look back, I can only ask, “Can that really have been 45 years ago?” I chuckled this evening when I heard Heather telling Ollie that 45 is an important birthday because it means you are halfway to 90. Go, Heather! She was always a very serious child and by the time she was into her second summer, Mark and I looked at each other day and said, “This child is more mature than either of us.” It was scary and we had to get our act together. Whether she was helping with the garden, training one of our sled dogs, or trying to read one of her dad’s books, she did it with extreme care and seriousness. At tonight’s birthday dinner, I was glad that finally, when she is halfway to 90, she has shed some of that seriousness. She made sure we had one serious photo and one crazy family photo to mark this momentous event. Happy Birthday, Heather.