L is for the letter itself.

                            

L, not for lessons or Long winded life advice, just L. 

It would be easy to jump in with L stands for Love, especially because I’m writing this the day after Valentine’s Day, and for me L does stand for love in a round about way. 

When I was thinking about words beginning with L that somehow related to me, I didn’t come up with much. When I think of love, I immediately think of my husband, kids and grandkids. Then it dawned on me that the letter L is in every one of my grandchildren’s names. Britton’s L is in his middle name, and that’s ok, it’s neat that he also has it. Putting the L in each name was not planned by anyone but there it is, kind of linking them together.

When I write their names out, I see it, that faithful little L, just hanging out like a family signature. 

Collin Michael, Delaney Morgan, Noelle Morgan, Lillian Winifred, Britton Samuel, Finnley Hope, and Elijah Michael.

Speaking of signatures, our last name is Lemieux which is also special, because it’s not the last name my husband Michael was born with. At birth, he was assigned his absentee father’s last name of Harriman (notice no L), so when he was older, he changed it to his mother’s maiden name, mostly because he thought of his Uncle (his mom’s brother) Ronnie, as a surrogate dad. The other man who he considered his “dad” when he was very young, was his late step father “Charlie. He speaks fondly of him, funny, the name Charlie bears an l too.

Even our dog Oscar is a labradoodle, and our turtle, a red-eared slider, named Tortellini, because apparently around here, even they understood the assignment.

L also stands for lilacs, which always make me think about my mother. Her favorite flower for as long as I can remember. They don’t last very long, but they show up every spring, right around Mother’s Day and so do the memories.

L is for laughter, the kind that erupts whenever my kids are all together. That sound is one of my favorite in the whole world. Real laughter, the kind that rolls and overlaps and makes me laugh even if I’m the butt of the joke or if I don’t know what they are laughing about. When they’re all in one room and the laughter builds, it feels like everything is right. Like the years of scraped knees, tight budgets, cramped living, and long days turned into this- adults who genuinely enjoy being together.

That sound is legacy too.

L feels like love, like lineage and like the way something small can hold something enormous. 

Seven Grandchildren with L’s, a Lemieux legacy, a labradoodle underfoot, a turtle, lilacs that still make me pause, Laughter filling a room and Little feet that grew into lives of their own.

Above all, L is for the Lord… the one who blessed me with all of this.

“The Lord bless you and keep you” ~Numbers 6:24