#NewThisDay Writing From My Photo Stream

Before my walk I have business in the kitchen. There is a birthday girl in the house, and she is hungry. A favorite – crepes – homemade, with fresh strawberries, fresh whipped cream, a breakfast tray, a vase of flowers, a cup of hot tea. Twenty-one years ago this morning, I kept her brother home from school, I kept her father home from work. I called my mother to pick her sister up from pre-school and take her to lunch. Because this is the day she would be born. And it was a long and peaceful day. Her brother wanted to be there for her birth, so we spent the day together, the three of us, a day of waiting, and being pleasantly distracted. Contractions, for a third birth, I realize, are only a weak buzz across the belly, they are comfortable, reassuring: this can be a relaxing, exceptional day, even. Yes, it is. I need a cabinet for my computer and so we buy one in the furniture store. Then we need a rental trailer to drive it home, and so we rent one. Yes, they really are contractions I'm having, isn't this interesting? Let's go have lunch. California Pizza Kitchen, in the mall. Should I eat? Some soup. We are happy. She is taking this time, she is reassuring us, all is well. At home, her father puts together the computer, it must be assembled. My mother calls, she has bought her sister some shoes. Thank you. My sister is coming, she'll be at the birth too. Why don't we make whoopie pies for all the children to eat, together, at my mother's while we are busy? Her brother helps me, because they are his favorite. And now, I have a computer cabinet set up. Perhaps we should drive to the hospital soon. Now seems like a good time. Let's go. There is no rush. Change your shirt, I say to her father, who is wearing his rattiest clothes for putting together cabinets. And he does. In the birthing room, I sing and sing from my belly in the shower, to sing this baby girl into the world. I am singing and breathing with all my heart, she is a song, she is a celebration, because, this is not a dress rehearsal and she will want her father to look his best on this occasion of her birth.