CHILDREN OF THE NIGHT AND DAWN

Darling Eva and Elyssa,
The day you were born, I sat inside a little room beside a rose garden, reading Virginia Woolf, and this passage struck me particularly...
'Here then was I, sitting on the banks of a river a week or two ago in fine October weather, lost in thought... such a wash and tumult  of ideas that it was impossible to sit still. I found myself walking with extreme rapidity across a grass plot. Instantly a man's figure rose to intercept me... His face expressed horror and indignation. Instinct rather than reason came to my help; he was a Beadle; I was a woman. This was the turf; there was the path. Only the Fellows and Scholars are allowed here; the gravel is the place for me.'

Woolf decides to cross the quadrangle and visit one of the famous Oxbridge libraries, when...

'there issued, like a guardian angel barring the way with a flutter of black gown instead of white wings, a deprecating, silvery, kindly gentleman, who regretted in a low voice as he waved me back that ladies are only admitted to the library if accompanied by a Fellow of the College or furnished with a letter of introduction.'

How things have changed and changed and though some things remain the same, you have arrived at the time of Malala Yousafzai taking on the Taliban single handedly at 15, and although America may not yet have a woman President, plenty of other countries do from Liberia and South Korea to Kosovo, Costa Rica, Argentina and Malawi.  While I was writing this, I noticed a butterfly trapped behind the glass door... she flew out the instant she heard the sound of wind and freedom that come with an open door...

For a while, I have moved onto a quiet farm to create more space for your two grannies, grandpa, other aunty and all the other friends and relations who will flock to visit you in abundance. You are both loved.

You are both celebrated. Although, would you mind if we celebrated your cousin Isabella's one month birthday today too? She is very far away but hopefully you will meet her soon.

The first meal I made on the farm for your parents, who that very night were detained by your imminent arrival, so your grandparents enjoyed instead, and together we waited for news.

And now you are both here!

Love forever and ever, your Aunty Shai-Shai xxxx