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And I wouldn’t change a second of it

“No, Dada” She pouted with her full, rosebud lips, and I instantly melted Less than two years old, and the little diva already had er

“Yes, Katie It’s tio play with Nom position and pulled a yellow and green striped T-shirt over her head

Katie pointed at the dog that was pictured on the front “Woof!” she announced with pride Katie had been saying si to sound out new ones It wasn’tfast She was crawling at four htat a year Dr Samuels, her pediatrician, was surprised at how quickly she reached all of her milestones

“This one will be ready to run the country at ten So, watch out,” the grizzled doctor had said, laughing as he watched Katie toddling around the examination room for her checkup

Given how rocky her early life had been, I was relieved that it hadn’t see to knohather mother should feel like Sure, the questions would come later—I only hoped I’d kno to answer them

When she was finally dressed, I lifted her off the changing table, and she ran to her bed and pulled Fuzzles, her stuffed monkey, froed toy to her chest She kissed it on its head and tucked it under her arm as she always did before we left the house Katie never went anywhere without Fuzzles It broke ed and kissed it, not knowing that herher behind

Maybe the kid knew on a subconscious level that it was the only thing she had to link her to thea parent Orkid’s toy

I lifted Katie, holding her firainst my chest She dropped her head toout of my chest Some days I could barely contain the airl Soht it possible to love another person the way I loved the twenty-five pounds of adorable sass in my arms

I was a guy that loved hard It had always been my downfall Just ask my mother, arned me that my idealized idea of relationships would only lead to heartache

“You’re a good boy, Kyle The best boy But guard your heart against those ill only crush it,” she had intoned sagely after e of twelve Debbie Colter had been ed handht her eye, and that was the end of the epic Kyle and Debbie love story

That’s not to say I didn’t play the field I wasn’t some whiney bitch that sobbed into aveas I kept it casual, I was okay

It was the ones I loved that had always been the problem

I grabbed the overloaded diaper bag fro my squirmy toddler on one hip, I deftly poured coffee into ie of cut-up carrots for Katie’s snack I was getting pretty good ata lot of balls at one ti they wouldn’t crash to the floor

Katie was babbling happily as I strapped her into her car seat I tucked Fuzzles into her ar her pal” it at me I pretended to catch it and kissed my palm as well

After I checked Katie was secure and put the bag on the passenger seat, I hopped up into my Ford F-150 and pulled out of the driveway “Octi! Octi!” Katie demanded from the backseat I knew exactly what she wanted I pushed a button on the stereo, and Octopus’s Garden by The Beatles came on over the speakers Katie had been obsessed with that song ever since uitar a couple of o

I drove the five short minutes to my parents’ ranch rambler on a quiet cul-de-sac in the center of my hometown, Southport, Pennsylvania My dad was already up and out front watering his flowers His garden was a thing of beauty, and he spent more time with his hands in the dirt than he did with his family It’s because of him I had developed my own love of plants and flowers, which hy I nonedbusiness—Webber’s Lawn Care