A Cool Breeze Ushers in Change

Windows open. A cool late summer breeze washes over me. A bite of cold snaps. There is a ballet being performed outside my window. Encore after encore. I am lulled to sleep by the rustling of trees.

The sounds of the city are now miles away. Familiar hills surround my rural Vermont home. Birds squawk and chatter while the odd car passes by.

Signs of warmth have now influenced the green hills. A new season is soon to arrive. A new baby has arrived. A granddaughter.

“Words cannot express the joy of new life.” — Hermann Hesse

Fashionably late she was. Missing deadline after deadline. A full moon came and went. Barometric pressure saw no influence. Yet arrive she finally did.

Jo’s Infant cries are easily soothed. Her neck already growing impressively strong. I study her features, yet she is already different from just yesterday. Her eyes search with an uncertain focus. The sound of my voice rings familiar. A shade of her mother’s. Sound mingles in the proximal air. Arms relaxed. Swaddled and secure…

I hold her as I once held her older sister and their mother. My daughter’s nose. The shape of my son-in-law’s eyes. A resemblance to her older sister Belle as a newborn, uncanny. Eyes a deep navy. Dark brown is in the offing…

Precious in her newness. I envy her newness. We sat outside Jo’s home when she was not quite a week old. I familiarly cradled her. Leaves overhead captivated her. Fascinated she was. Fascinating she is. The world greeted her, and she was uncertain. A certain unease around the vastness. Her tiny brow knitted as she fielded the many new sensations while the cool breeze washed over her…

“If I could give you only three things, I would give you the confidence to know how unique you are, the strength to always be true to your dreams, and the love to never feel alone.” — anonymous.