MY DARLING VICTORIA

Newly born and deeply loved

My second grandchild was born several hours ago. Little Victoria joins her Mommy and Daddy and her two-year old big sister in a world where she will see sky and sunlight and flowers and grass and beach and mountains, where she will be held in the arms of family who adore her, beginning her human journey very blessed to be loved as she will be loved.

She will share with her sister a swing set and a doll’s house and stuffed animals and books, she will love her Mommy’s cooking and rides on her Daddy’s shoulders (that always scares me, but hey, I remember riding on my father’s shoulders too) - and will, if I have anything to do with it, be convinced at an early age that she’s a magical fairy princess who has come to help save the world.

She carries within her cells Scottish warriors and shtetl Jews. She is a British citizen with an American mother. Not yet a full day old, she comes bearing, as does every child, great gifts for the world. My daughter described her as delicious. I describe her as a miracle. And of course she is both.

When the phone rang late last night and I saw my daughter’s name on the screen, I answered it quickly and nervously. “India, are you all right???” The baby wasn’t due, after all, for another three weeks. Then I saw on Facetime that incredible image: the blissful and beautiful and smiling mother, holding her most perfect baby, proud husband and father standing over them. How many billions and billions of people throughout the world and throughout time have gazed at such a scene in awe - wallowing in its divine perfection, giving thanks in their heart to whatever God or to no God, for the magnificence of life…

I give thanks so deeply tonight, that my daughter has become the woman she is, manifesting the life she lives, with the family she and her husband have created. Life does indeed go on generation after generation. The thread of time runs through all things. God in His awesomeness Wills that it be so. My prayer is that every child might be as fortunate as little Victoria, to be as loved as she is loved. May every child be safe and kept far away from harm. May our darling Victoria grow up someday to be a woman who herself carries on that thread, contributing to life and experiencing all the blessings that it holds.

Dear God, bless every child. Make the world for all of them a place as perfect and as beautiful as they.

Amen.