Well, today I was awoken to the sweet smell of biscuits darling Cati was baking for my birthday in bed breakfast. Using a tip from her friend Hannah's story about her Granny's biscuits, I tracked down some White Lily flour online and Cati's been a biscuit baking fiend ever since. Much to my benefit...
Anyway, it got me to thinking...this whole birthday thing, we usually think about it as celebrating how old we are, or how old we've just turned, or fearing how old we've become. But with the baby near, I am suddenly and pointedly reminded that this is a celebration of my birth. My actual age matters little, but I DO like remembering that my mother was so good as to bring me into the world, and how great a thing being born ultimately is when you have a great family. Despite various reconfigurations, I've never doubted for a moment that my family loves me lots, and what better world can anyone be born into? I am hopeful that this next birth-day that we will celebrate will be a similar gift for our child. I can't imagine it otherwise, I feel so much love flooding through me already for this little rolling, kicking, elbowing, hiccuping wonder.
Sometimes one can get in a rut thinking about all of the burdens our children inherit, a world in distress, economic armageddons, dwindling resources, etc...I find myself taking a shower and contemplating whether or not our child will even know what it's like to be allowed to take a shower every day. And yet, when I think of my own childhood, none of the things that I'm guessing my parents fretted about too stick out. All I remember is pancakes on Sunday mornings, hikes in the mountains, looking for wild mushrooms, dinners at Grandma's, music-making nights, taking care of goats, etc...There were certainly sad and difficult times, but none that I can remember involved the outside world really. So, that makes me feel better about celebrating birthdays. It's a day to celebrate the bubble of love we all get to enter just once, but every year is a reminder of our luck in staying in that bubble. Ok, time to get back to building this new bubble.
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