Marliese Jae, named after a very good friend of ours, Marliese Fairfield, who died of cancer not long after Marlie was born. Marlie's middle name, Jae, was meant to honor our "Uncle Jay" Lendacki, another very good friend of ours.

Ithink out of all our kids, Mar is the most similar to me in a lot of ways; she loves art and is very talented in the areas of drawing and painting; she loves animals and seems to develop a special relastionship with every pet we ever had; she does well in school, although it does not seem to be one of her passions.

Another similarity between Mar and I is her lack of self esteem. Something I suffered from when I was her age, and still battle with from time to time. I attribute my problems with self esteem to the way my parents raised me, and I wonder if I did something that affected Marlie the same way.

Of all the kids, I worry about her the most. I want to reach out and hug her and help her find what she's looking for, but I don't think she's ready for that. I long for the day when she is.