All familiar characters belong to Janet. The mistakes are mine alone.

"How does it feel to be an entire … year … old, Olive?"

"I doubt she'd say today feels any different than yesterday, Babe," I told my wife.

"It should, because this is a huuuuge deal." She smiled over at me. "Not only have we kept her alive for three-hundred-and-sixty-five days, she's been thriving."

"We've done well."

"We have, but she's made it easy. Haven't you, Olive Pie?" She asked with a kiss placed in-between the complicated braids-into-pigtails hairbow-caught concoction Julie had done with her sister's hair when they had both gotten up this morning. "You know, I think I became who I was supposed to be just to raise Olive the way I needed to be."

Stephanie's honesty still has the power to stun me at times. "We've both come a long way thanks to our daughter."

She kissed me this time. "Thanks for saying so, but you started at almost perfect. I needed a full overhaul. But you're the best reward I could've gotten for it, Olive," she said, hugging our daughter to her as Olivia rested her chin on Steph's shoulder and gave me a sideways smooshed-grin.

"I can feel that," she told our baby. "You're either evil-grinning as you roll your eyes at me, or smiling while making Bambi-eyes at Daddy again."

"She wasn't rolling anything," I assured her.

"Good, but I still know she's almost done tolerating being still ... and I'm ready for her to see the third floor. I really was intending not to go overboard for her party ..."

"But Ella, Edna, and my mother, wanted to 'help', I know. If the excessive decorations make Olive happy, I'm fine with what you four have done for her."

I said that like I don't know exactly what has come into the building and gone directly to the floor designated Olivia's this week, as we counted down the remaining days to her becoming a one-year-old. I've personally celebrated Julie's milestones, but Olive's makes me miss having the early-on Daddy/Daughter relationship with Julie that I was able to have with Olivia. Everyone ... my family, buddies in similar situations, then Stephanie, and even Rachel, Ron, and Julie herself at times, have told me fighting to survive hell halfway around the world, wasn't conducive to raising a child stationed in the states, but I still regret not being there for more than just the timed-visits I was allowed or scheduled to have with Julie.

My eldest has forgiven me for it ... and this past year has allowed me to start forgiving myself. In a way, having Olivia has given Julie back to me.

"You guys are taking forever," the eldest in question said, standing in the nursery's doorway flanked by Mo and Gunny.

"Sorry, Jules," Steph told her. "We've been thinking and reminiscing a little before and after the diaper-check. Now I'm thinking if we don't go downstairs after breakfast, I can keep Olive from getting bigger ... though you keep getting older and wiser no matter how I will you to stay a little kid."

"You can't slow down time, Steph. Anymore than taking the calendar off the wall will make me and my parents forget that I have to go back to Miami in a few days."

"You noticed that, did you?" Steph asked, keeping Olive in a hug and pausing to let me enfold Julie in a one-armed one as she followed us to the kitchen.

"Yup. And I appreciate your very-obvious attempts to make me feel like I belong here," my daughter replied.

I stopped our progress, but Stephanie immediately took point on the conversation. "Julie, if I didn't respect your parents so much, and I didn't fully get how much you love them, your Dad and I would've fought tooth and nail to have you with us every day of every year. We more than want you here with us. I'm sure you've noticed that we try for longer visits every time you're cleared to come to Trenton. You're not just 'Olive's sister', you're our daughter whether you like it or not."

"I do like being a Manoso along with the three of you," she admitted.

She paused, which gave me the opportunity to add my thoughts. "You're what makes us a family as much as Olivia is. Your place here is cemented stronger than the Rangeman's foundation."

She recovered quickly. "Stand down, Rangeparents. I'm good. Olive's your baby and I'm your girl, I get it."

"I'm glad you do," Steph told her. "We couldn't be the parents we are without you."

Julie grinned. "You're just saying that because you want me to try to feed Olive her oatmeal."

"Not true. I was going to take the hit this morning, but I'd hate to deprive you if you really wanted to convince her that it's actually good," Steph told her.

"Nice try, but I'm okay with just eating my breakfast instead of wearing half of Olive's."

"Chicken."

"I think the word you're looking for, Steph ... is smart, not chicken," our daughter fired back.

The truth in that statement had all of us smiling as we bobbed and weaved between eight paws to get into the kitchen. Olivia's smile turned into a complete 'O' shape when our party of six stepped out of the elevator and into the sea. Steph and Julie knew I wouldn't sign off on actual water and sand being trucked in for today's event, so they got creative with the help of our families.

Louis had removed the doors from all the conference rooms, and each one had separate theme designated to them that were all related to the original ocean one ... jellyfish staked out an office, dolphins, sea horses, and stingrays, in others. The ceiling of the main hallway was lined with some type of fabric that was being backlit by the light fixtures so the black turtle, shark, and fish, silhouettes appeared to be swimming near the ocean's surface above us.

I sensed my baby sister was responsible for the majority of the party decorations. Making a switch in college to study Marine Biology made her the perfect Manoso-sibling to tap for this particular party. My possible future-brother-in-law, who did make it through every one of my company's security checks, studying art ... sped up the decoration decisions and no doubt the execution of them.

The food - all sea life-inspired - was provided by Ella, my mother, Mary Lou, and Edna. My father, brother, Louis, and Mary Alice, had come up with and built the child-friendly 'shooting' games that filled the largest of the meeting rooms. The kids and my men will likely be dividing their time between the game room and the one supplying the snacks for the afternoon.

Julie's favorite contribution was asking if we could 'adopt' a sea creature, or a section of their habitat, in the names of every guest who signs Olivia's "Happy Birthday" book. I've never been prouder of my daughter than when she suggested we pay Olivia's party forward. I've lived my life trying to protect and serve ... and that's the part of me, likely the only part, I was hoping to have passed on in some way to my children.

This isn't just a party to celebrate Olivia's birthday, it turned into a full-blown family affair, with everyone she loves participating in some fashion. Julie and Steph had a great time bonding when they took Olivia to the mall in hopes of finding 'the perfect birthday outfit' for her. Since our baby will rarely be sitting or standing still with so much going on, a dress really wasn't a feasible option. The three came home, still laughing and talking excitedly, and proudly showed me their find ... a pair of lightweight cotton baby jeans with two birthday cake patches on the knees, a white t-shirt with 'Birthday Bebé' glitter-scrawled diagonally across the front of it, and a pair of white canvas sneakers printed with celebratory sprinkles and a large number '1' on the outside side of each one.

She's going to be able to run after Gunny and Mo, and tackle a RangeUncle or twelve, with ease and speed today. A convenience both our daughter and the men will appreciate. A side bonus is if Helen does show up, the outfit will cause an unfriendlier version of a 'fish face' than Raphael's, which will amuse the shit out of Stephanie and I.

"Buon compleanno, Olivia," Raphael said to our daughter, pausing in putting the final touches on one room where an impossibly large whale shark paper-sculpture was 'swimming' six inches from the ceiling.

Steph cut her eyes to me. "He said 'Happy Birthday ..."

"I got the 'Olivia' part," she interrupted. "Where's Aubrey? I thought she'd be here to help talk you through a kid-party."

"She's hitching a ride with Harper and Kane. Harp was begging for a buffer."

"Kane's not taking the idea of Harper traveling well," I explained to her.

"I thought you were bad, but Kane's way, waaay worse."

"Steph, it's tough when a guy cares about someone," Raphael told her. "It's even harder when your other half is going through something you can't help them with beyond a certain point."

"Kane's past the nut-point, though," my wife stated. "He probably thinks hitting a bump in the road will cause contractions to start."

Her quick glance at me said 'Thank you for not being like him' when she'd been pregnant with Olivia. She had been panicking enough for two people and didn't need me adding to it.

"According to Harp," Steph continued, "Kane already ordered her doctor to safely knock both of them out. One, because he doesn't deal well with Harper being in pain. And two, he's a total wimp with matters not involving shooting or seriously maiming someone ... or playing your dangerous good guy versus bad guy games."

"Speaking of games,"Julie said, noting how Olivia was trying to grab onto her GodTank when he ambled into our area, "Olive's clearly ready to get started on some. She looks like she's thinking about using Uncle Tank and his height to pull down a section of ocean."

Steph had grabbed the two little legs before our one-year-old baby girl could make a full belly-crawl over her shoulder and down her back. No doubt about it ... today is going to be entertaining one way or another.