"Love is all around you. Love is within you. You have created me as surely as I have created you."
--my diary, December 2006
I painted "The Fullness of Time" (acyrlic on canvas 24x24" 2006), shortly before my daughter was born.
Today, December 21, is my daughter's birthday! She is ten years old! I can't believe it! (As it happens, my birthday is tomorrow, on the 22nd, so my daughter and I almost-share birthdays.) I named her "Nell," which means "cloud" in Scots Irish (according to some baby name book). Her middle name is Aurora, which means "dawn," because she was born at dawn.
Nell was born in my grandmother's house in New Jersey, where Ian (my husband) and I were living at the time. (Read more about Grandmommy in my blog post, "Ten Years and a Teapot.") Here is a picture I drew in my diary: Grandmommy is eating a cookie and holding her brand-new infant great-granddaughter on her lap. I really like her gesture and I think it would make a fun painting.
Here is an excerpt from my diary describing the birth:
It didn't take long for me to realize it was happening...I fell into the moment like it was a deep, magical pool. I felt so loved and supported... the birth transcended all sense of time, the old reality slipped away...I remember walking around the upstairs...holding tightly onto Ian's hands and arms...I felt like he was holding me and I was in a deep ocean. The pain was great, but it was beautiful too. I found myself smiling a lot...
Afterwards, Dina [the midwife]...placed the baby on my chest. She started to make little cries right away, like a little lamb. Her eyes were wide open, almond-shaped...looking all around, looking at me. She was so beautiful. I fell into a thousand, thousand, infinite fathoms of love. I was so happy, so exhausted, so tired, so transformed. I felt like a whole new person. I felt exquisitely beautiful.
Perfect little one, filled with love, swaddled in love.
Love is all around you. Love is within you.
You have created me as surely as I have created you.
Love, love, love.
May your days be filled with love.
I made this little sketch of my sleepy daughter two days ago. Almost ten! Time passes fast.