On the eve of my son's birthday
Dear I. V. S. - I do not know much about you and you know nothing about me. I know your name. I know that we share the same birth year. And I know that eleven years ago tonight, your body began to go into labor. Your baby came four weeks early and you delivered him at home. Maybe he took you by surprise, eagerly wanting to come into this world, not knowing how hard life would be for him for the next decade. I don't know what you thought when you saw that tiny, five pound baby boy. I often think about it all. Did you hold him? Did you whisper to him that even though you couldn't take care of him, you would always love him? Did you even feel love for him? I don't know. We will never know. You chose to give him up and turn him over to the hospital, where he was in the NICU for several weeks before being taken to the orphanage. A premature baby with no mother to hold his hand or nurse him or give him her body' war...