The Sun Is Rising

 

 

It's mignight. Manu is sleeping. This all-mighty little guy finally switched off himself. It's my precious quiet moment. In this unusual peacefulness, my heart opens, recalls the first days he arrived to his world.

Manu's coming was a happy surprise. Early 1999, I was in Beijing. One day I went to hospital for some reason, I found myself pregnant. I almost jumped up. Of course I didn't. I walked out very slowly and carefully so that I wouldn't drop off the little tiny seed. I wrote an email to my dear husband Olivier who was in our California home. "Fasten your seat belt, I AM PREGENANT!" Almost immediately, I got his phone call ten thousand miles away over the Pacific Ocean. "Tai hao le, baobei." (Wonderful, baby.) His voice was trembling with joy.

At 4 month pregnancy, we moved to Brasil. The little seed grew inside my body. He sat there, head up feet
down, listened to samba music, drank all kinds of tropical fruit juice filtered by mama. Pretty cool.

At eight month pregnancy, we came back home. Although I did all kinds of acrobatics on floor, in bed or
against wall, this little guy just sat there, head up. "Hey, time to turn around." I told him, touched
his head just under my heart. But he wouldn't. "No, I'm not turning." He streched his arms and
kicked his legs. There was a light wave in my tommy.

It seemed he was not an early bird, two weeks passed the due date, he was still very calmly sitting there,
enjoying the wonderland inside mama's body. So we had to invite him out. We decided to make a cesarian.

November 10th, 1999, I lied on the hospital operation table. After a serie of injections, I heard
some metal sounds, must be scisser, knife, fork, hammer, saw, whatever, I didn't care. I had no
pain. Suddenly, I felt a weightlessness. My stomach was evacuated. I heard a cry, soft, slim like a sick cat. . Gee, already out!

"Do you see the peanut!" I used all my energy to speak out.

"Yes, we surely see his peanut." Doctor replied. I took a long breath.

Later Olivier came to me. "He has two arms two legs." This was the first sentence he said to me. During the whole birth operation, the new Papa was too nervous to speak a word. Our two arms two legs baby released him.

Then, our family story entered into a new era. Our messy home became messier, our small car looked smaller. Our conversation added up new topics. Everyday there were some discoveries, such as "He pipis on his face." Boy! "He smiled in the middle of sleep, must be dreaming." But what could he dream about?

Besides, Olivier, my forever young and romantic husband, seemed suddenly conjured into a caring Papa."It smells bizzar." I said. Then Olivier would, unconditionally, stop anything on his hand to change diaper.

Manu was growing up. 3 month, the very first milimetre of tooth came out. 4 month, he turned
around. 5 month, crawled. 6 month, sat. 9 month, stood, one year walked. Up to date at 14
month, he has all the function of mess up the house. He knews to cry for different purposes.
"I'am hungry", "I want to eat", "I'm tired", "I didn't have a good sleep", he could use crying tones and his
face features to express all these.

Having kid is such a beautiful thing. God makes these little things so perfect. Their smile is as
bright as sun, their skin is as smooth as silk, their tear is as pure as crystal. They are the mirror of
ourself. They open us to a new pure world. They are what we used to be. Yes, we used to be so
pure, also.

The sun is rising. Son, you are the sun in my heart.