The day you came
Naked, afraid
Young mother screams and pushes you
The day you came
At 11:30am on October 10, 2013, you and your birthmom huddled together in a hospital bed alone and no doubt afraid in each other’s arms.
What must those moments have been like for you two? Exchanging looks. Touching skin. Sharing air. Your entire worlds were crowded in that tiny room.
What were the words she must have spoken to you — the tears cried over you? What did she think the first time she saw your eyes — did she see her own? Oh the emotions she must have felt in the touch of your hand, sound of your voice, and smell of your skin. The questions she must have wrestled with in those brief moments together.
She brought you into this world and carried you into this very moment.
Oh joy begin
Weak little thing
More precious there’ll be nothing, no
Oh joy begin
A few hours later, we met you in the nursery, fed you your first bottle, and changed your first diaper. She sat on another floor in the hospital by then, all alone with her thoughts and realizations that today had finally come. This moment was here.
What must she have thought in that silence?
Was there joy at your arriving and in your health? Was there sadness at being apart from you? Was there fear in placing you for adoption? Or were they all right there, enlaced together in that moment?
. . .
At 11:30am on October 11, 2013, you lied in her arms again, next to the paperwork she was soon to sign. What did she contemplate then? What did she promise you? What did she pray for us?
Let’s not forget these early days
Remember we begin the same
We lose our way in fear and pain
Oh joy begin
Today, we celebrate the day of your birth five years ago. And we also celebrate the amazing woman who lives inside the very cells of your being. We thank her daily for the gift you are to the two of us.
You have always been the greatest joy giver, and were so grateful for this day the joy began.