Bond

I am holding my daughter, watching her big eyes become droopy. She tries to fight off sleep but sleep is winning. I slowly, ever so carefully lay her in her crib. She squirms on her sun-warmed pink baby sheet. I lay my hand on her chest to comfort her. I am here, my love. I am here, my baby. She grabs my pinky with her left hand and my thumb with her right. Don’t leave mommy. Don’t leave. If I was a walking puzzle I would have fallen to pieces. My heart warms and breaks at the very same time. Such a great love. She teaches me so much. She shows me my true self. She makes me want to be the best woman I could ever be. She gives me hope and breath and strength. She makes me want the world to be a much, much better place. She has done no wrong. She is THE demonstration of purity. She is my whole life in a tiny package. She is absolute perfection. She teaches me how our God sees us. I will protect her. I will let her live. I will love her without condition. I will hold her hand, whether I can be there through each moment or not. I will cheer at her triumphs and cry with her during defeats. I will lift her up always.

Seven years ago, around this time, I began spending time with a man with an enormous heart and a spring in his step (literally). We could not keep our eyes or minds from each other. We were stuck. I am thoroughly convinced we were created in our mothers’ wombs for each other. I—his helper, he—my appuyer à moitié. Four years later, on his mother’s birthday, he proposed to me on a cliff overlooking the Pacific. A question mark in the dirt.

“Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.”*

Three years ago tomorrow, we were married. We came together as one. To share everything. To give everything. To celebrate everything.

Norah’s daddy—the great man of my life, my iron.

I celebrate you.

I celebrate Norah.

I celebrate this life.

My love for you is never-ending.

I believe this is what He meant all along.

*Genesis 2:7