Birth Day

 

When A was born, JD saw him first-- my still huge stomach was blocking my view. When the nurse lifted him to my chest, he was so so beautiful, and what came out of my mouth was "Oh, baby..." In English.

We didn't pick A's first name until after he died. It was the name at the top of the list, but we didn't settle on it until after. He didn't have a middle name until some time after he was born. He looked to me like he was missing a middle name, and that was one problem we could fix. His name, first and middle, is big, strong, full of sound. Such a big name for such a small boy.

I sang one song to A. The song that I sang hundreds, probably thousands of times to Monkey before. A sweet lullaby from a very good Old Country movie, the lullaby the heroine sings to her doll. Monkey's name fits easily into the song. A's not so much, but I made it work. I hit the high note, twice, and almost made it all the way through, but I had to whisper the last two lines.