Our son, Dan, was a winter baby. When he was seven weeks old, he caught a cold, which quickly turned into severe bronchiolitis, and we had to hospitalize him as he fought for every breath. We almost lost him, but the doctors tried a new miracle drug on him (a new one to help preemies with their immature lung problems) and it worked! He recovered quickly, and we brought him home. It was early spring, and the huge forsythia bush in front of our apartment was in bloom. I have loved forsythia ever since.

One of the books we bought that spring to add to our growing collection of beloved children’s books, was a beautiful little book of Haiku poems called Come Along!, by Rebecca Caudill and illustrated by Ellen Raskin. The book was a combination of Rebecca Caudill’s exquisitely succinct poetry (the haiku under the photograph above is from the book), and Ellen Raskin’s lovely illustrations. It is one of our family’s treasures, of course, and now belongs to our little grandson.