mom arrived today. she carried with her this little tree. there are many stories behind it, but the my favorite is the story of how it came to be in my life. my grandmother ran the best nursery school in all of athengs ga for about 20 years. if i am anybody in athens, it’s because i’m mrs. mcdonald’s grand-daughter. this is one of the many gifts given to her from children and their parents over the years. she gave it to me when i was little. i loved it and every year waited for it to come out, symbolizing that the season of expectation was upon us. a former member of my family stole it briefly, but it was later returned to its rightful owner. and it has happily lived in athens ga since then. until today, when my mom brought it to chicago. it was wrapped in fluffy stuff and packed with her pj’s in her backpack. thanks mom. you rock.