Monday, November 06, 2006
First Birthday
Saturday was Ellie's first birthday. She's been with us a whole year now, and I took a little time to reflect (that is to say, while I was racing around doing all the things I had to do this week and weekend, I thought about Ellie). Rather than give a narrative of the party (I bet Shelly will do that on her blog (see sidebar)), I'll touch on something that struck me when I was being thoughtful about it.
Ellie is the only person in the whole wide world whose birth I have witnessed and participated in. So when her birthday rolled around, it made me think a little differently about birthdays than I usually do. For other family and friends whose birth I was not a part of, a birthday is mostly just a celebration of that person. You like them, you honor them, you give them presents and tell them you're glad they're alive.
But with Ellie, it was a little different. Throughout the course of the birthday (and the couple of days leading up to it and after it), I looked at my watch and tried to recall precisely what I was doing exactly one year ago at that moment. We were taking a walk while Shelly was in labor, trying to ease the pain. We were rushing to the hospital. Shelly was getting her second epidural. Ellie was born. We were recovering in the hospital room. And so on.
Ellie's birthday, while still a celebration that this little bundle of sweetness is with us, is, to me, a reminder of the events of her birth. It's not just an Ellie-day; it's actually a birth-day. It's hard to articulate the feeling I'm getting at, but it was real and different.
Ellie is the only person in the whole wide world whose birth I have witnessed and participated in. So when her birthday rolled around, it made me think a little differently about birthdays than I usually do. For other family and friends whose birth I was not a part of, a birthday is mostly just a celebration of that person. You like them, you honor them, you give them presents and tell them you're glad they're alive.
But with Ellie, it was a little different. Throughout the course of the birthday (and the couple of days leading up to it and after it), I looked at my watch and tried to recall precisely what I was doing exactly one year ago at that moment. We were taking a walk while Shelly was in labor, trying to ease the pain. We were rushing to the hospital. Shelly was getting her second epidural. Ellie was born. We were recovering in the hospital room. And so on.
Ellie's birthday, while still a celebration that this little bundle of sweetness is with us, is, to me, a reminder of the events of her birth. It's not just an Ellie-day; it's actually a birth-day. It's hard to articulate the feeling I'm getting at, but it was real and different.
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