The call came in at 3:30, when I had fifteen minutes left of my day. Kids were milling about, waiting for their parents to pick them up or to head off to after-school. I looked at my phone to see that it was from Nowy Sacz. I thought perhaps it could be Babcia, perhaps Wojek D. It was, however, neither of them. Instead, it was Pani M, my former landlady in Lipnica and the closest I’d had to a Polish mother until I actually got one (-in-law).

She’d called to thank us for the Christmas card we’d sent, which the family had received only this week. We got to talking for a while, and she asked about the family.

“L looks like she’s getting very tall,” she said.

“She’s taller than her mother now,” I said. We’d learned that when she went to the doctor this week. Five feet eight inches — one inch taller than K.

“How tall?” she asked. Knowing imperial measurements would be meaningless to Pani M, I Googled it quickly. 

“172,” I replied.

“Oh, that is tall.”

In the evening, I was standing across from L as K helped her prepare her nightly medicine regimen, and I realized I was looking straight ahead as I looked right into her eyes. Straight ahead. We were only about five feet apart. And it hit me: we’re almost there physically. That little bundle of pink that we could hold in a single arm thirteen years ago is now almost fully physically grown.

Today’s Photo, Completely Unrelated

I reworked a few photos from our Grand Canyon trip. This is one of my favorites.