Page 29 - HEF Pen & Ink 2023

thing that resonated within you always. When you had a bad day, you could still reach further down and find joy in the big picture. Happiness was quickly over, but once you found joy, it was with you forever.
That’s how I feel when I’m with Ellie. She can annoy me, refuse to listen, embarrass me, and make me cry, but no matter how I’m feeling on the surface, I love her underneath all that. She brings me joy just by being near me. Even her residual energy in my life, notes she wrote and pictures she drew, photographs of her sweet face, make my heart swell with a surge of joy.
It’s Your endless love, pouring down on us
You have made us new, now life begins with You “Death Was Arrested”, North Point Worship
When Ellie was born, I was 270 miles away. She was at St. Peter’s Hospital in Helena, Montana, and I was in Idaho Falls with my grandmother. My parents were trying to keep us updated about how everything was going and what they were going to name her.
Frozen had come out less than a year ago, and my brothers and I were rooting for Elsa as her name, or maybe Anna. I wanted Anna at first, but then I realized that I would rather be Anna (despite being the older sister), and besides, Elsa was almost an anagram of Selah, just without the “h.” I figured we could just add the “h” on to the end and make her name Elsah, and then she would be unique among the other children named Elsa being born about the same time.
My grandmother was very confused about what my new sister’s name was. At first, she told us Alaina, which I thought was acceptable since it mimicked my mother’s middle name, Alaine. Then my grandmother said it was Aliana, which I thought was pushing it with the whole Alaine thing. Around dinnertime, she finally figured out it was Eliana. It took some thought, but I decided this was probably okay - it was kind of like Elsa and Anna combined into one name.
Her name is Eliana, I guess. Eliana Joy.
We were both young when I first saw you “Love Story”, Taylor Swift
There was a phase she went through from about two to four where Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar was her favorite book. She always wanted us to read it to her. She ate fruit to be like the caterpillar. She played a game on her pink tablet where she raised her own very hungry caterpillar. She had a caterpillar stuffed animal and a beautiful butterfly too. She also pulled her fingers together and said her two hands were caterpillars. She named them Honey and Humphrey. They fought, and a Stop Caterpillar had to convince them to get along. They got bitten by X Caterpillars, and a Unicorn Cat- erpillar had to save them. They swam in the bathtub and became Dolphin Caterpillars. They played outside and became Bird Caterpillars.
My brothers jumped right on board the caterpillar train. They named their hands long-forgotten names and played with Ellie.
Though I had two hands, I only had one caterpillar. Inspired with incredible creativity, I named my caterpillar nothing more than Caterpillar.
Take pictures in your mind
Of your childhood room
Memorize what it sounded like
When your dad gets home
Remember the footsteps
Remember the words said
And all of your little brother’s favorite songs I just realized everything I have
Is someday gonna be gone
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