Annabelle Grace

My friend Darcy, who I have known since we moved down the alley from her when I was nearly three, had a baby and she dared to name it Annabelle. Annabelle Grace. Heaven help us.

To say that Darcy and I have strong personalities is an understatement. She has been likened to (and played the part of) Lucy (from the comic strip Peanuts). And me? To Darcy's Lucy I am Peppermint Patty.

Some of my first memories were of arguing with Darcy over who was the boss. She was older and a little taller and she had a little sister, so I pretty much was stuck under her regime for a while. Later, her little sister came over to my side, I grew and she didn't (she's like 4'11"), and I realized that she was only a month older than me. I managed to get a word in edgewise and we fought some more. Most of the time, we get along just fine. It is so comfortable to be with her and her husband. It's just...if she would listen to me and do what I said--and vice versa--we'd all be just fine.

We love to play games with Darcy and Thad and her sister Dell and husband Tony. We giggle and giggle and giggle.

As you might have gathered from this blog, good old Annabelle has some punch too. She taught me how to stand up to Darcy. She and Darcy both are direct and they don't mince words. They are smart and snappy. They aren't afraid to stand up for themselves.

When my parents exiled themselves to Iowa, Darcy and her husband Thad were already in that strange land, for Darcy's medical school. She and Thad would spend random Sundays and lonely holidays with my parents. My parents would visit them in the big city of Des Moines and see Darcy's latest decorating home project or the new addition Thad put onto their house after dinner and a movie. There is a lot of affection between the four of them.

So Darcy dared to name her brand new baby Annabelle. Annabelle Grace. I recently heard that grace is how God resources us to handle out lives in all of their beautiful and bleak reality. Darcy will need some grace to raise another Annabelle.

God bless them all. I can't wait to meet this little one.