Welcome Riley Jane

Welcome baby sister and second daughter to our family! We love you so much and are so glad you arrived today on Tuesday, March 23, 2010. You weigh 8 lbs 7 oz and are 21 inches long! You have made your daddy, me and big sister so proud!

Granddaddy wrote you a letter today as he visited us at the hospital! Your whole family is so glad to you came today!

This letter is for Riley Jane Owens, who will need someone to read the words to her. She’s only a couple of days old. . .

Welcome to the world, baby Granddaughter.

There’s been quite a bit of excitement in our family since Tuesday. How have you been able to sleep through so much of it?

Your big sister was so excited to make the trip to the hospital that she didn’t eat all her bagel for breakfast. Your Grandmommie was so excited, she couldn’t keep up with one of her earrings. Your dad was so excited that on a scale of 1-10, he registered somewhere around 15. Oh, we were all excited!

Surely you’ve noticed the series of friendly faces that have paraded before you since you arrived. Several of the same faces appear and reappear, each time reflecting joy and love.

That’s us. We’re your family and friends.

We’ve been holding your reservation for several months. Now we are delighted to have you finally check in. Make yourself at home in the accommodations of our hearts.

We’ve counted your fingers and toes and recorded your weight and length. We’ve studied your appearance and imagined something of ourselves in your chin or the tilt of your face or shape of your profile.

We’re anxious to get to know you better and have you become acquainted with us.

I was holding your sister in my arms, and she was munching on candy while we were waiting to intercept you on your way to the nursery. (By-the-way, your sister won’t be 3 till next month, but she seemed to grow much bigger last Tuesday.) When the hospital speakers played the recorded lullaby, I told your sister that they were playing the melody in honor of you. I told her you would be coming down the hall very soon. Then she replied, “She’ll eat all my candy.”

Despite that quip, though, she’ll be happy to share with you.

In fact, we’ll all be happy to share with you. We’ve got plenty of love to go around and we’ll bestow lots on you.

We’ll help lead you through this wonderful experience of life. Perhaps by sometimes following in our footsteps, you will be better equipped to make your own footprints at other times.

Cut back on that napping as soon as you can, Little One. You’ll want to be fully awake to enjoy the experiences that are awaiting you.

Then, too, there will likely be some bumps along the way. You may fall off your bike—even with training wheels. You may indeed eat more than your share of your sister’s candy. Be assured, though, that we will be there to help you when you make mistakes.

The story of your birth came to a conclusion Tuesday. We’ll tell you all about it later. In the meantime, you’ve begun other chapters in your life’s saga.

I look forward to following all your adventures.

Love,

Granddaddy