On a New Baby

Our family will be welcoming a new baby in a few weeks. My husband and I are anticipating a second great granddaughter, and her five-year-old sister is very busy participating in the search for a new name. Like her sister, this newest peep will be Chinese and Caucasian, and once again I am entranced by imagining how she will look. Will she have her father’s sloe eyes, or will they be mitigated by a more rounded dome contributed by her blue-eyed mother? Will she have her father’s deep, black eyes or the more sparkling, brandy-colored eyes of her sister? These two little girls are our family’s entry into a blended racial culture…none too soon as far as I am concerned…and I am endlessly fascinated by the composed looks of new world children.

Unvarnished possibilities...

Even more, I am fascinated by the unvarnished possibilities that all new babies carry. I do believe that unborn children are not a complete tabula rasa. Like some people, I think that unborn babies are subject to the atmosphere of the mother and her surroundings, for good or ill. Maybe that old wives’ tale about singing to the child in the womb isn’t such a wives’ tale after all. But eventually the new babe has its life to live and its ideas to shape. Could we just civilize it a little…we all must get along after all…and give it some eternal values, but then leave it as unbent as possible? What a gift that would be!

Ultra newness...

There is ultra newness in a new baby that is to be nurtured, protected and cherished. We all know this, but have we forgotten about the newness that comes with every breath we take? Every new idea we entertain is given a birth home in us. The paradox is that at the same time we are growing older, we are also growing new again as well.

First time...

I want to remind myself of this when I look for the first time into the eyes of our newest family member.

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