Boulder Baby Girls Turned the Big “One” By Angela Kirby

Samantha, Violet and Magnolia all turned one year in June and had a great time celebrating their birthdays together. It is a tremendous blessing to share the experience of motherhood with Haylee and Jill and to watch these babies grow together, to see their similarities and their profound differences. Josh and Jill were the first to come over and congratulate Dan and I on our pregnancy. Jill was absolutely beaming, her arms filled with pregnancy and parenting books and raspberry leaf tea. In my vulnerable state of early pregnancy, seeing her filled me with a knowing that I could do this and that Dan and I were not alone. After hearing that my good friends, Haylee and Garin were also expecting as well as Jill with her second child, I understood that everything was as it should be. Later, Violet and Samantha were born thirty minutes apart, and Maggie fifteen days later. And as you know, the story gets better with four little boys born this year!

Young children are a sign of a thriving community especially in a place such as this where jobs are few and housing is limited. Yes, these children are the future of Boulder but they are also the present. I’m so grateful that Samantha and I have many teachers in this place, and love to see her sitting with Renon who is in her nineties, playing with Noah Thorne who is in grade school or spending time with the other babies. So if you see us at the farmer’s market or hanging out in the creek, come over, talk with us, walk with us. I promise, you have as much to learn from the children and their presence and innocence as they have to learn from your wisdom and stories.