Idea

I carried you when you were only an idea
Then shared the idea with someone else
Hoping you’d be real
Plans were made
About how to bring you here
And how life would be when you arrived
An idea nurtured with love
Later led to a revelation
That you were eventually on your way
As you grew inside
Outside, a litany of names emerged
Outside, a home was terraformed into a sanctuary
Outside, more plans were made
Inside, you began to throw your weight around
As you twisted and jabbed
Reacting to voices that would soon become
Mommy and Daddy and a Dog Named Brutus
You made your presence known
Whenever I looked in the mirror
As I slowly became two
On the day you arrived
You came with a proud fury
As I nudged you with a mother’s agony
Into our world
So little but so mighty
How something so tiny
Can make men like your father cry
And women like me willing to die trying
To protect you
Maybe someday you’ll know the
Joys and heartaches we know
Of your first crawl, steps then falls
Of your first babbles then words
Of dropping you off to kindergarten
Then to prom then the airport
To take a plane to college
Because you so wanted to live on your own
Of late night calls of how you met someone
Of late night calls of how someone else broke your heart
Of messages that something you saw
Reminded you of the time that–
Of messages that you miss us
And how you wished we were there
I hope you someday know
What it means
To see an idea become
Your own flesh and blood