to little O

Dear Little O,

Last evening I took you outside while Daddy and your siblings were at the library. The day's light was dimming and the oppressive heat was, mercifully, surrendering to the easy summer breeze. It had been a long day for both of us as you suffered discomfort and unrest for innumerable hours. We were both grateful for this peaceful moment.

But it was the lulling sounds of the evening's counterpoint that lifted us, together, out of the cacophony of the day. As we sat on the front porch, me reclining comfortably in a chair and you gazing up at me from my lap, we listened as the birds bid their adieu, we contemplated the undulating waves of cicada wails and we were charmed by the crickets' evening warm-ups and the buzz of the light-bulb-loving beetles whirring around us. And to this age-old music was a modern counterpoint. Reassuring and comforting in its' own way. The hum of neighbors rushing to mow their lawns and blow the grass away before moonlight overtook the sun and the rhythmic beating of drums as the boy down the street practiced his heart out in the open garage.

Throughout this modern nocturnal fughetta, Little O, you lay with relieved silence and heightened interest on my lap. And as I listened and deeply drank in the evening air, I stared at you. I stared in wonder at your beauty. I watched your every move, the smallest twitches and the broad swipes of your little bird like legs and I imagined and remembered, still quite vividly, how so recently you made those same little gestures within my womb. I recalled how we all wondered Who was growing In There, who "It" would be. And then I marvelled at how we still anticipate the unveiling of you. You are a boy, yes. You are Little O, yes. But what will your temperament be? How will you move? What will you say? What sort of harmony will you bring to our family and to the world?

You should know that even though your are the fifth child born into this chaotic little clan, I can still sit and stare at you for hours. I stare and study you as if I have never before seen a newborn babe or a creature as lovely as you. The moment I laid eyes on you, I felt a swelling in my heart, a wash of affection. A hole was filled when you were born and now, already, we would be rather incomplete without you.

Love,

Mama