Three Generations

“The first night she would not settle, I did what I always do. I called you. You answered the way you always have, like you were already awake.”

“You counted her fingers the way I once counted yours. You looked up, and for the first time you knew exactly how I love you.”

“I watched you hold her for the first time and sit down very slowly in the chair. You sat down the same way the day our daughter was born. I have not forgotten.”

“You watched every name on this chain learn to walk. None of us remembers it. You were there for all three.”

“Mom stirs the pan the way you do. Last week I caught myself doing it too. Nobody wrote it down and nobody had to. Some things just come from you.”