Motherhood
Letters from the Editor — By Jordan Green on April 30, 2007 at 12:00 am(UPDATE: Many of you might have noticed some very long load times for our site…longer than a site should take. This is due to our server, which has caused a lot of problems over the last few months. We’ll be switching servers in the next couple weeks. We’re hoping to also institute a few extra changes, but those remain to be seen. Thanks for reading! Here’s Penny…)
Readers,
Seven weeks ago I met my daughter for the first time; all eight pounds eight ounces of incredible cuteness. My first thought upon looking at my brand-new baby was, “Oh my gosh, she looks just like Dave’s Dad,” which is an unfortunate thought when you’ve just given birth to a girl. My husband was quick to point out, though, that it wasn’t necessarily that Quinn looked like her grandpa, but that her grandpa was starting to look like a baby
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My 8 week old found his hands last week. He?s had them all along, but he just realized. It’s beautiful to watch…
We could learn a lot from babies:
Contentment and amazement and all that.
He smiles a lot, now, too. Smiles, for smiling’s sake. When?s the last time you smiled? Just because.
They always seem to find the miraculous in the mundane.
Soon daddy?s voice will frighten and scold and direct and demand.
Soon Mama will be more than shiny teeth and warmth and scent.
It won?t be long.
Abe found his hands last week. Whatever will WE do with them?
Congratulations, Penny.
Penny, thank you for sharing your heart and a deeply personal issue with us. Thank you for sharing that link with us. The tragedy at VT is so complex and I have found so many other people who had personally connections to it in some way.
My concerns were immediately to my aunt, who already lost a son over 20 years ago murdered at a college, and whose other son and daughter-in-law work at VT, with their autistic son in a program at VT. I’ve never met their son, but I felt so much for him to learn that his school was in lockdown mode for hours, certainly an extreme situation for a person suffering from autism.
On the subject of happy baby thoughts, my daughter just turned 7 months last week, and I’m now having trouble remembering what it was like to hold her as a tiny newborn. She has discovered so much in her short life, like this week as she has added crawling and blowing random raspberries to her new discoveries. I just wish she’d wait until after she swallowed her rice cereal to blow raspberries at me.
Penny,
I often find myself fearful of the family mental illnesses my future children might inherit. And even more so, alone in my fears. It takes great courage to share those dark places of our story. Your words around the beauty of new life speak to a hope that surpasses pain. Thank you for reminding me of the joy life offers so freely … when I willingly embrace the unexpected.