Just a thought… Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly. [Langston Hughes]

Well, hello there. It seems only fitting that on the day Lauren was wed seven years ago – one of the happiest of our lives – I am sharing with you news that has lifted our hearts into the stratosphere. Rob and I are feeling the most deeply fulfilled, the most overly joyful that we have since before that day five years ago that Lauren left us, her baby son and her husband in her sleep.

I had planned to tell the news here today to you first. But when I was in conversation Friday evening with Kevin Frankish on his Kevin’s Isolators show, he asked me what was keeping me joyful and grateful. And I just couldn’t sit there and lie!

So here it is: the announcement of the dream we didn’t dare to dream, coming true. (I should warn you that the video is five-and-a-half minutes long and will use quite a bit of data, so you might want to make sure you’re on wi-fi.)

By the way, Kevin made the little hummingbird graphic at the end using a video Barbara Cassells sent me. Barbara shared her own story of losing her son Nathan for me to include in Mourning Has Broken: Love, Loss and Reclaiming Joy. She caught a beautiful moment with my book and a real hummingbird. Don’t miss it – and thank you, sweet Barbara!

Of course, there are more details to come as our shaky exuberance subsides a bit and things come into focus.

I’ll have a fresh journal for you here Thursday.