The Blessing of Two
Posted by Arwen Mosher in Family on Tuesday, October 14, 2008 3:16 PM
Today is Camilla’s second birthday.
We talked it up so much that by bedtime last night, she was already asking, “When birthday coming over?”
I think she’s not perfectly clear on the concept.
Fortunately, this doesn’t inhibit her enjoyment of the day itself. I blew up balloons for her to play with and she got to have donut holes for breakfast. I gave her a lollipop when she finished lunch, and her cousins are coming over for her requested dinner of macaroni and cheese. How much more excitement can a two-year-old take in one day?
In the meantime, her father and I are very aware of the significance of this day. The two-year anniversary of the day of her birth means 730 days that we’ve been taking care of this little girl. As Bryan pointed out wryly during one of her recent meltdowns, she has cried on every single one of those days. On the other hand, she has brought joy to our lives on every single one of those days, too.
When Camilla reached five months old I wrote on my blog that it had been “The longest, hardest, most heart-wrenching, most heart-warming, best months of my life.” I’d say the same thing about the last two years. They’ve been full of previously unparalleled challenges, and of previously unparalleled rewards as well.
Of course, on all occasions when I have the opportunity to contemplate the reality of Camilla’s existence, the thing foremost in my mind is not the details of her life but the fact of what an incredible mysterious gift it is that she exists at all. For a couple years before Camilla came along, Bryan and I weren’t sure if or when God would ever send us children. That He eventually blessed us with two children seems huge to me. Our years of waiting, relatively short though they were, were long enough to cement deeply in me the realization of the truth that a child is always a blessing from God: not deserved or earned, but a free gift of grace, to be cherished.
As I work to carry out my vocation and love Camilla and her little brother to the best of my ability, I try to remember this truth every day.
Camilla, now aged two, is still young to be able to contemplate the profound, but I trust that as we celebrate her birthday today, she has some awareness of what a blessing life is.
Judging by the way she’s enjoying that lollipop, I’d say she does.
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