MEETING EVELYN ROBINSON

Before bearing child (BBC), a new baby meant a lot of cuteness surrounded by a sense of mystery.  After bearing child (ABC), a new baby still elicits out of me gushes about how beautiful it is, but now I have this incredible sense of reverence that I didn’t have before. It’s different than the vague sense of mystery and wonder that I had about babies before; I am stilled and struck and near silenced by how the baby came to be. My heart feels the weight of the joy, the fears, the anticipation, the exhaustion, the exhilaration, gratitude, grace, and lessons while I hold the newborn in my arms.

A few of us traveled through the forest and over the hills this past Saturday to get a glimpse of this new life and to visit with the dear friend who is now the mother of two girls. The baby is beautiful. The mother is radiant. The baby’s older sister is vivid.  The father made us all delicious ham and vegetable wraps for lunch (good man!) I miss them all already, especially little Simone because I could have played with that girl all day.

On the way back, sweaty and sleepy, we ruminated on the peace that came from traveling through the mountains and each reminisced about the memory lanes we were repaving through the travel on 64. I daydreamed about the person that I used to be, all the places that I have been, and about the little girl of my own that was waiting for me back at home.