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...
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| 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
Congratulations to the parents and welcome to the world Eva and Elyssa
ReplyDelete(My youngest granddaughter is an Eva).
Twin baby girls. I cant think of anything lovelier. Double happiness! So now you have one nephew and three nieces? Lucky girl! Lucky youngsters, to belong to your wonderful family. In my next life I might ask to belong to it as well - watch for me. I might have black fur and a puppy dog tail (smiles)
ReplyDeleteShai, you do realize that with the birth of all these three little girls this year, you are a goddess to them, you are their heroine, their defender and confider. When they give up on their parents (becasue only you know how silly your brother's can be) they will come to their auntie Shai to find the right corner of the world where all is well.
ReplyDeleteSherry is right...triple happiness