new little life

A new little life was brought into the world this week. Little Helena Elizabeth. She is beautiful. She already has a protective big sister and enough "aunts" to fight off anyone. She is loved. We got the phone call at midnight Tuesday night that it wouldn't be long. My family immediately mobilized the troops and handed out assignments. My mom was to take new mom to the hospital, with my dad driving (they are good at staying calm in chaos). My younger sister and I were stationed at this growing family's house spending the night with their two year old who was already down for the night. The husband was coming straight from work to meet them at the hospital and everyone else was on standby. Sister (or fishy as her older sister has lovingly called her for months), came into this world at around 8AM. She only didn't have a name for a minute which if you think about it is pretty good- I mean there is a lot of pressure that goes into that... That day, when I asked her big sister what happened (besides telling me that the pool "robot" sprayed her), she happily told me that her mom had a baby and that she became a big sister. Already the beautiful kind of pride shown in her eyes as she continued to explain to me the sounds her sister made (she was crying), the way her sister felt (she was soft), and what her sister was doing (taking a bath). She announced that it was her sister's Boofday (birthday) and continued to talk about the crying (even making the actual sound). As she spoke, I saw hints of the uncertainty we all knew would be there. In her two-year-old mind she was turning over thoughts of sharing mom and dad, sharing toys, sharing time... sharing life, not that she can conceptualize this yet, but the process has begun. It starts so young and a child can either grow bitter toward a younger sibling or grow in love for them - on their team and supporting them - or I suppose they could be indifferent. I am not a parent and cannot speak for how this is done, but can attest to the fact that it was done for me. Isn't it interesting how our automatic reaction is "Mine!"? I dont think anyone teaches a child that and yet, it is what we do. I am praying for this big sister that "Mine!" will be taken out of her vocabulary and that she will learn early on the beauty in sharing everything with this baby who could one day be her best friend: delighting over learning to ride a bike, getting frustrated over falling, crying over relationships, celebrating over a batch of cookies, coping over a pint of icecream, laughing over nail polish and magazines, whispering over coffee, weeping over failure, rejoicing over small things and loving over mistakes- possibly the girl that will stand by her on the biggest days of her life and a girl who will know her better than anyone, if they allow it. Sisters can be such a gift. What a blessing to get to watch this precious family grow...