Stretch  is my soon to be, 15 yr old daughter, (Aug. '00).  As you can see, she's growing up to be quite the looker.  Already 6', we don't think she's quite done her growing yet.
 
 

Stretch (5'11") n Sang (5'8") Apr. '99

Stretch n me after her Gr. 8 grad. June '99

April 99 saw my first social visit with Stretch in almost 4 years.  I'll leave it at "her mother hasn't made it quite so easy for me to exercise my access to visitation."  To say she'd changed a bit in her appearance would be a gross understatement.

Natalie's second visit to Canada was also her first chance to meet Stretch.  In fact, Nat was the one to 'christen' her.  The two of them hit it off really well. After picking her up from school, we had a light lunch and an all too brief a visit. In the little time we were together, I learned that Stretch plays the saxaphone, likes art and has entered a country-wide math competition.

During that visit, Stretch asked me about the possibility of attending her Grade 8 graduation.  On June 23rd, (coincidentally, Nat's birthday) I motored down and took in the ceremony, listening to her recite some original poetry and to one of her teachers recite another.

For someone who, unintentionally, had little input into her growing up, I sure am proud of my 'little' girl!  Standing so tall, speaking so clearly and obviously liked by a lot of the kids she went to school with, she just blew me away.

Here's hoping my next picture taking opportunity with her won't take till her highschool grad.

This is "Mouse" in her Sang-made dress for Senior Prom.	This is "The Widget"...or Wedge - it as I call her sometimes, from the first time I met her.

I can't wait till we get to be a true "family".  I'm not sure that all 4 ladies will be in the same household or not, but you can bet that they all have a big part of my heart