June 18, 2010
Happy Birthday, Natalia!
The Birthday Girl
Today is my daughter’s birthday. Nena is twenty two years old.
When we left home for the hospital that June day twenty two years ago, Jeff and I were very much hoping for a girl. We already had an energetic little boy, Mike was three at the time.
Jeff had grown up in a family of three brothers and wanted a little girl of his own.
I wanted a daughter. I wanted a daughter named Natalia. I had picked the name Natalia when I read War and Peace as a ten year old in Serbia. Natasha (nickname for Natalia) Rostova was my favorite character in the novel. I wanted a girl like her.
We wanted a girl so much that I worried that if we had a boy, he might feel unwelcome. So, to even out the odds, I took all blue baby clothes to the hospital. Just in case.
Well, I will never forget the look of pure joy on Jeff’s face when he leaned over me and said, “We have a little girl!” I don’t think I have ever seen him happier.
And when I held my little Natalia for the first time, fragile and delicate as a flower petal, I understood that my love for her had no beginning and no end. She was the girl I had been waiting for.
Happy birthday, dearest angel!
Gracious Living - Day by Day 