The Life Changer
Black marker on drawing paper
11 x 14 inches
Barbara Muir © 2014
I've been reading so much about sketching that
I'd thought I'd do a drawing tonight to
celebrate my son's birthday. We can't be
together today, but my thoughts have been
with him, as they are every year from the
day before his birthday, when I went into the
hospital to 2 in the morning today, when he
was born.
I wanted to capture that moment when
newborn and mother take the first long
look at each other. Both are tired, exhausted,
but for the mother it is the moment of total
shock when she realizes she has never
loved anyone as much as she now loves
this little person. She is filled with wonder
at the miracle of life. That this person she has
just met was inside her the day before is
almost impossible to grasp. And for the
baby it is simply all new.
I thank my dear son for being an easy baby,
for sleeping through the night on the seventh
day, and most of the nights after that. He
has grown into an amazing, kind, talented
man, with a loving wife and exciting career
as a photographer and cinematographer.
I haven't got the beauty of either the mother
and child perfectly here, but perhaps my
drawing has the feeling.
Have a loving-the-ones-you-love day.
Your drawing does have the feeling Barbara, and what a miraculous one too. Every new mother can identify with this. Happy birthday to your son, and to his mum because their birthdays are always celebrations for us.
ReplyDeleteWhat a baby! What a mom! What a sketch! And obviously implied although he's not in the sketch perhaps or possibly because he's taking the picture - what a dad, eh!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations to all of you!!!!
xoxoxo, Marcia
Hi Sally,
ReplyDeleteThank you so much. It's true isn't it. Their birthdays will always be a big deal. His grandmother called and said she remembered the call. And I had the call from a friend when her little girl was born on my machine forever, until the machine became the phone. ;-)
Have a super weekend. XOXOXOXO Barbara
Hi Marcia,
ReplyDeleteThank You! Right on. I'm sure it's equally bizarre for men, to see their wives turn into balloons and then -- two people. I remember Steven crying holding Christopher, just like me. So moved. And the same with Sam. At least with the second one you are a bit more confident. Wow those first weeks! They are life changing.
XOXOXOXOXO
Love, Barbara