LOVE is calling.
Every year on our birthday we could count on one thing. No matter how old we were turning, or how busy our day was, we expected a special phone call. I still hear his voice singing over the phone as I sat in the living room in Seattle and on the front porch in Texas. Grandpa made birthday phone calls. And grandpa made birthdays special. There's really nothing I like less in the world than talking on the phone. Even growing up as I chatted with my sweet grandparents, I got anxiety. It made me uncomfortable to carry on a conversation with someone who's facial expressions and gestures I could not see. The mystery scared me. My heart even beats a little faster just thinking about it. But year after year I heard on the phone my grandpa, expressing his authentic love for me in the most beautiful version of happy birthday I have ever heard, because a birdie told him it was my special day. September 9th will never roll around again without me thinking of this man. And more important