Wearing Pappaw’s hat – age 3.
Happy Birthday to my sweet girl!
In 1987, October 3rd was a Saturday, and just as it does every year, today has opened a flood gate of memories that take me back to that time in our lives.
It had been warm that fall in Iredell County, NC — typical for our western Carolina location — but a cold front was expected to pass through on Friday night, October 2, that would significantly cool down our area located at the base of the Brushy Mountains, the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Even though I was nine months pregnant, we were preparing to attend the Brushy Mountain Apple Festival on Saturday just as we did every year, located thirty minutes away in North Wilkesboro.
The expected cold front came through that Friday night, and Saturday was overcast and cool, but instead of attending the festival, we began the day with the newest member of our little family — Katy. Three-year-old Matt was at the hospital with us, napping in my room and watching Saturday morning cartoons as he waited to find out if he had a baby brother or sister.
We had two names picked out: Katelyn for a girl, and Andrew for a boy. We got our Katelyn and her dad promptly wrote “Katy” on the name card located in her nursery bassinet.
Katy and Colin
Katy and older brother Matt at Atlanta Braves game in D.C.
Katy and Colin on their wedding day at House Mountain Inn, Lexington, Va.
Bonding with a Highland County sheep.
At the beach house in Florida
Virginia Tech game
OBX
Toes in the James River, RVA.
My sweet Mary Baldwin College (now University) girl.
Cousins Emily and Katy at the beach house on the Gulf.
From that day on, our family was complete. Katy and Matt formed a sibling friendship that continues to this day. Ever the big brother, he was helpful with her from the beginning, and she gravitated to him before she could walk.
Homeschooled from kindergarten through 12th grade, she graduated from Mary Baldwin with honors, and then married in a beautiful ceremony overlooking the mountains of western Virginia, bringing a young man into our family who was loved not just by her but by us.
Today my fun-loving child is a bubbly, organized, and adventuresome young woman who loves the beach and hiking and baking and flowers and autumn, and sheep and cats … and so much more.
She is definitely my traveling child, perhaps best captured by one of her favorite quotes from Mark Twain: “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”
Today we celebrate the day a little bundle of love entered our lives and we were blessed with a little girl named Katy. Love you, Katy Bee!
~~~
“If there ever comes a day when we can’t be together, keep me in your heart. I’ll stay there forever.” -Winnie the Pooh
Sharing a book with Palmer Kitty
Palmer
Gatlinburg
The cousins … Shenandoah Valley
Humpback Rock
Studying
Scott Stadium 2009 for U2
The Homestead, Republican Advance, 2009.
Katy with cousin Emily, and homeschool childhood friends Amanda, Vicki, Debbie, and Amanda.
At Duffs’ maple barn during Highland County Maple Festival. The tourism magazine asked to use my pic of Katy and Colin listening to the sugaring process.
At Mammaw and Pappaw’s house, 2018.
With Mammaw and Pappaw, September 2018.
Photos by Lynn R. Mitchell
LynnRMitchell.com 