guest blogger // meredith haynes

Hello, I’m Meredith from A Work In Progress!  I used to blog about all kinds of things, but now I’m lucky if I get my kiddos monthly posts completed in a reasonable amount of time. I’m so glad Kelly gave me a great topic to blog about!

When I hear the word “grateful,”  I immediately think of the obvious: my husband, my babies, my family, and my life.  While every minute of each day is not perfect, every day is so good.

But today I am grateful for Shel Silverstein.

What?  I know that’s strange.  Allow me to explain.

Michael and I both attended The University of Tulsa, a (very) small private school in Oklahoma.  He was a grade below me and, oddly enough, we never met while we were in school together.  Fortunately, this miraculous thing called “Facebook” came to be and in April 2005 I received a friend request from a handsome TU senior.  I looked at his profile (this was before photo albums and news feeds–you had one picture and very basic information) and my eyes lit up when I read one of his favorite authors: Shel Silverstein.

I adore Shel Silverstein.  I had every book of his as a child, recited some of his poems in elementary school, and just thought he was the greatest.  I accepted Michael’s friend request and shot him a quick message about his excellent taste in literature. What began as a quick email exchange about an author grew to so much more.

One week later we met at a mutual friend’s party.

One year later I moved back to Tulsa.

Six months later we were engaged.

11 months later we married.

Five years later we had our twins, Jude & Sloane.

We have his books on display in our living room and had one of our favorite poems of his printed and placed in the twins nursery before they arrived.

Would all of this have happened without Shel Silverstein’s name on Michael’s profile?  Maybe.  But 8.5 years, two moves, several jobs, and two babies later, I’m so grateful he included it.