Mahalia

Ah Mahalia, you make me smile!  I have you front and center on my computer, and every time I look at you, you make me smile.  And I look at you a lot.  I sit with my computer on my lap and I look at you, and you make me smile.  And it is an easy smile you make on me, the kind that simply begins the moment you come into focus.  Ah Mahalia, you make me smile.

You are new, so fresh out of the womb, unblemished, untarnished, and clean both inside and out, and you make me smile.  I can see your mom in you, of course, and your dad as well, but really, Mahalia, you look like you and not like anyone else but you.  And you look so good to me.  You make me smile.

I can’t wait to meet you face to face, to touch your arms and put my finger into your hand so that you can squeeze a bond between us.  Ah Mahalia, you make me smile.  Soon I will kiss those soft, sweet cheeks, and run my finger over your eyes and nose, and I love that nose Mahalia – such a great nose.  I’m smiling now Mahalia.

Who are you, little one?  In the likeness of your mom and dad, yet made in the image of God.  Does God look like you sweet child?  Is God ever new, always fresh out of the womb, unblemished, untarnished, and clean both inside and out?  Mahalia, do you define holiness?

Ah Mahalia, you make me smile!

The trip from darkness to light was along a narrow path, wasn’t it sweetheart?  Hurt too, didn’t it?  Your mom will tell you all about it one day, but she won’t talk much about the pain for her.  Because when she tells you about the day you and she had your first good cry together, she’ll be looking right into your eyes, her eyes, and she will not remember how badly it hurt to bring you into daylight.

Your dad can’t take his eyes off you.  You think he was a worrier before you came along, well now he has something to worry about – someone who’s happiness has become more important to him than his own.  He has you.  And guess what, little one, you have him too.

Ah Mahalia, you make me smile! 

Your Nana looks at you, Mahalia, and cries soft tears, which are for her a smile from deep inside.  She travels back to your daddy's first day, and the memory of it binds you to her in ways too mysterious for a man like me to understand.

So I sit back and listen to her as I look at you, and Mahalia, I smile!