random acts of senseless beauty

I’ve spent the last 10 days in a constant state of being slightly overwhlemed.  Happiness, surprise, comfort, thankfulness, grace and hope have englufled me in a fragile and beautiful mist.  My smile might slip from my face only to sneak back a minute later; how can this be happening?

Last night, instead of returning to normality as I’d expected, my sleep was wonderfully disturbed throughout the night by eagerly-anticipated texts… from Texas.

First at midnight it was an IM; “Here we go!”.  At 3.30; “Annie’s in active labor.  everything looks good.  Could be an hour, could be 5, will keep you posted!” and finally, at around 5am “After about an hour of pushing, baby Jude was born just after 11.  She is gorgeous and pink and perfect.”

And so we welcome to the world my namesake.  Ladies and gentlemen, meet my darling Annie and Helen’s daughter; Jude.

Judith Marguerite, 4 hours old

She is beautiful. She is gorgeous and pink and perfect, as Greg said in the text. I know this because, due to the absolute wonders of modern technology, I was introduced to baby Jude via video chat when she was only 4 hours old.

The Fambly, 4 hours old

To see the fambly cuddled up in their bed - home births never seemed so wonderful! - and to watch Jude wriggle and cry and constantly move her hands like she was hatching some macaevelian plot was incredible.  To hear it all first hand, to be a part of the lull after the storm… well it was more than overwhelming.  It was huge.

And to the final, cherry-on-the-top, overwhleming and mindblowing piece.  Judith Marguerite is 35 years, 7 months and 2 days younger than me, but our names are the same.  (I am Judith Margaret, while Baby Jude has lucked out with the fancier, frenchier version of our middle name, thanks to Mommy Helen’s wonderful Grandma, and it makes it seem so much classier!)

To have such a precious and wonderful girl sharing my name is so far past overwhelming as to be in a whole new dictionary.  I am Uberwhelmed.  I am honoured.  I am still shedding the tears of joy that came over me in waves this morning as I saw this gift’s face, and she opened her eyes all but briefly.

Jude:  May you always know how deeply loved you are by your mothers, your extended family, and the army of people across the world who’ve been praying for you since before you were even conceived;  may you know the warm sun on your face and cool wind at your back; may you ever be true to your heart and never be afraid of your intellect; may you live in creativity and freedom all your days.  Welcome to your life.  I’m glad to be in it with you, and honoured to share our names.

Welcoming Tears from Big Jude