1). The move to an apartment in the city
2). The creepy alley entrance to said apartment
3). The multiple car accidents.
4). Gallivanting off by Herself to New York City.
This is the scene of her latest attempt:
This is the Sun Trust building in downtown Richmond. It is 25 stories high. And this:
is The Child’s bottom coming over the top of the building. The baby that I carried for more than 9 months is on the edge of that precipice and I am on the ground holding a camera.
The Child’s middle name is the same as my maternal grandfather. This was decided long before she was born. And it is apt. She is as fearless as he. She also has the same soft heart that he hid behind gruffness and bluff. This was a fundraiser for Special Olympics. She raised over $1100 and came down carrying a picture of our adorable cousin Luke. We were equal parts terrified and proud. Both emotions clutched our throats and filled our eyes.
She fills me with awe. I wonder where she came from. She is somehow so much more than I have ever been – braver, stronger, smarter and so very, very bright.
The author Elizabeth Stone said: “Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.” How my heart could have been in my throat and coming down the side of that building at the same time is a conundrum, but it was.
