It seems like I have a family once more, and it centers around some wonderful women that I love. Maria is returning to the farm in the morning, she has been flying in airplanes for about 30 hours. Emma and Robin are in Arizona, where Robing went to see her first baseball team play – the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Life is odd, I took Emma to a Yankees Game when she was 14 and taught her how to score a baseball, and I didn’t think much of it, but it changed her life. She is a senior editor at Sports Illustrated in New York City now, she is in charge of their baseball coverage.

Emma was a serious kid, thoughtful and bookish. She was also up for almost anything, but I don’t remember her smiling that much. Nice to see them at a ball game together.

I love the rueful and ironic look that is often a part of Emma. I don’t see that yet in Robin, she seems to me to be a good time girl, she is up for almost anything, and loves to go almost anywhere. Or so it seems to me. I don’t see her that often but it doesn’t really seem to matter.

I feel like I know her well, and she has brought Emma and I closer together, which is so important to me. I cannot yet imagine what Robin will wish to do with her life, and I am not going to be around to see it. But that smile will carry her far, it suggests a love of life that is precious.

Suddenly, I am surrounded by wonderful women. How wondrous is life.