When I was little and I would memorize a new song for my piano recital or learn the Gettysburg Address for 4th grade, I would say “I know it by heart.”  Now, knowing something “by heart” means something entirely different….it’s being able to recall something, deep inside, remembering the smells and sounds and touch of something as if it was yesterday.  It’s remembering by heart the feeling of riding my bike, without a helmet, fast down Mt. Run Lane road, the wind ripping through my hair.  It’s feeling by heart the soft stuffed elephant that my then-boyfriend and now-husband gave me at the lockers, his first gift to me.   It’s hearing by heart the sound of my  baby’s first cry as he made his way into the world.  It’s smelling by heart the warm, breezy, salty air as I stepped out of the car at the ocean. 

It’s sensing by heart the excitement of Christmas morning as my sister and I ran downstairs, my parents’ happy faces beaming.

So many things I have learned “by heart.”  And I am thankful for each precious one.  Have a blessed weekend.  Slainte, Lisa