Musings
an Online Journal of Sorts

By Alyce Wilson

My brother and me,
during his mirror-eating days

I am now officially an aunt. Last night, near 11 p.m., my nephew came into the world. He was born with no problems, so my brother tells us, and he has brown hair and blue eyes and weighs about 7 pounds. He'll probably look very much like his father, my brother.

So it turns out I was right about the color of his eyes and wrong about the color of his hair. I was also right about the fact that he would be born at night. I'd had an impression it would be dark when he was born. This was something I shared with my mom on the phone yesterday, although I didn't think to include it in yesterday's Musing.

And I was right about the fact that he turned out to be a boy, which was something I suspected, or kind of knew, even before he and his wife got the first ultrasound results.

Three out of four isn't bad.

So it was a long day, both for my nephew and his mom, and now they're both resting. My brother tells me his wife was strong throughout, which doesn't surprise me. She's a very strong woman.

My family is anxious to see them, but because my brother lives eight hours away in Vermont, and it's winter, it will be awhile before we're able to do that. My sister and my dad may visit around Easter, but I don't get paid vacations, so it might be difficult for me to do that right around tax time, as that is.

If they lived just a little closer, I'd make a long weekend out of it, but eight hours of driving each way makes that a difficult proposition. I suppose I could go on a Friday and come back on a Monday. It's something to consider.

I shouldn't be surprised that my brother was the first one of my siblings to have a child. It seemed for awhile that it would be me. After all, I was married, but the marriage only lasted a year and a half, and frankly, I'm glad we didn't have kids. It would have been a permanent tie to my ex-husband, and the child might have inherited some of his worse tendencies. At the very least, he would probably have had ADHD.

And he should be a good father. When I think about the way he took care of his dog for the past five years, he was always kind and even-handed, and yet laid down the law. She knows not to test him.

His wife will also be a good mother. She's very reasonable but also sweet-natured, gentle and caring.

I feel like I should write something to my nephew now, so I'll say this. I don't know yet what you'll be like, what your interests will be, how tall you'll get, what you'll want to do with your life. But I do know that I'm glad to have you here and that I already love you.

Copyright 2005 by Alyce Wilson

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