The sweetest marking of the passage time

Imagine the poignancy last night to learn that niece-of-the-heart Kylee, of my Massachussets extened family, is engaged. This morning I am pleasantly haunted by the memory of the tiny size of her, the way she fit so comfortably in the crook of my arm in this picture from the early 1990s, and of the vividness of the intelligence shining in her eyes. In 2012 I was privileged to attend her graduation from Phillips Exeter over the course of a magical New England summer weekend, and then she was off to Tufts, then to medical school. Now, in 2021, she's engaged. In my parents' day, long-distance extended family relied on mailed photographs and announcements to follow the growing-up of beloved children; today, we have social media. I suspect, however, that the effect is the same: joy, pride, and an ineffably sweet, utterly painless awareness of the passage of time—perhaps the only painless awareness of the passage of time—mixed in with a sense of deep blessing at being able to participate in it all, even from a distance. Thank you, Kylee, for allowing me to share a photograph of this moment, and deep love and congratulations to everyone involved, to you and Tim, to your families, particularly your sister, Kaci, and your moms, my beloved Diane and Pam.