Today, I offered Val some Top Quality clothes to wear, fine cargo shorts
and a nice purple t-shirt to go with it. She said no, she wanted
pants. Fine, so I let her go into her drawer full o' pants.

Where she spied one of the 2 dresses she owns and said 'wear my dress,
please.'

And thus, her dress was worn today. She twirled around every chance she
got and was quite pleased with herself. I suspect this means more
dresses in our future, which is fine because as we've said all along, if
she chooses to wear them, she's welcome to.

As I watched my daughter twirl around in her 'very nice' dress, I
couldn't help but think about Abby's family, in a neighboring town and
the fact that they'll never see Abby twirl in her dresses again. I
understand that Abby played hockey like her mom does: bigger than her
small size would dictate she should.

Every parent who I've shared Abby's story with has the same reaction:
something like 'wow, that's awful' but then quickly, they change the
subject. Because no parent wants to imagine going through that.

There are no good words. It's just too damn sad.

But that's not the right phrase. It's not enough. No words will ever
be enough.