Ninety-nine. It's always been a significant number, just one less than one hundred. As a statistic, it's probably the most popular number to throw about: "Kills 99% of germs!" "99% of the time, this is what happens." and my personal favorite "99% of drivers say they are above average." It was a significant year for me too, '99. That was the year I graduated from high school, to the tune of "Tonight, we're gonna party like it's 1999!"And now it has more significance to me, and our family. Ninety-nine days ago, a very little boy was born. And now, after ninety-nine days of separation, he has joined our family at home.

At one point this afternoon, I was nursing Quinn, and Dorian came into the room. Dorian and I played a game of making funny faces, and I had flashbacks of doing something very similar with him when Faith was a nursing baby two years ago. Then Faith came in and joined us in our game. Amid the peals of laughter, Quinn nursed contentedly, and I have never been happier. It suddenly didn't matter that in the corner of the room stood an oxygen tank, resembling a small rocket about to take off. My children are all together in one place, and we are living. This is Life. It's nothing more profound than the day-to-day family interactions just like these, made all the more vivid because of Quinn's long absence. We are home.