Baby boy

I saw the pictures and almost instantly began to tear... a beautiful baby boy was born today an hour or so ago, in the Netherlands, at Bronovo hospital right next to the home I grew up in.

Mum and I have been expecting him ever since we first heard about him some seven months ago. The moment has finally come, a week or so overdue, but never too late to bring much joy and excitement into our lives.

Big eyes, sweet face and cheeks, a head of hair, pale skinned, tiny little arms and legs...

I've not managed to reach my brother and don't know much details (I don't even know what he is called...), but the baby and mother seem to look alright. I do hope so, and the coming few hours and days will be critical, and I am thinking of them fondly and sending them my wellwishes....

Another addition to my family, and I can hardly contain my tears of happiness. It is so beautiful, so miraculous, so soon, so very, very touching... Why am I crying? Is it because this outweighs much of the pain and difficulties my family has faced over the past couple of years? Is it because I am now officially an uncle, and can't wait to shower the child with all my love and all the most wonderful gifts I could imagine getting him? Or is it because deep down, I too would like a child, to hold, to cherish, to love and to protect and guide as s/he grows up...?

It doesn't matter why. What matters is that the child is healthy, and that he will cement the loving relationship between my sister-in-law and my brother. What matters is that he will undoubtedly make their lives richer and complete with his cries, his smiles, his first little step, his first little word... What matters is that he will make our family, so spread out around the world, stronger and have more reason to be and get together...

I wonder if mum already knows about the wonderful news, as it's the middle of the night in Taiwan. I sent her a text message, jokingly congratulating her on becoming a grandma. I hope this news will bring her much, much joy and a grand reason to continue living life to the fullest, for she needs all the happiness and positiveness in the unsettling period to come...

And dad... this is what you have so often wanted, so often thought and talked about before. Though you are not here to witness the baby's birth into this world, though you cannot hold him close and listen to his chuckle, a part of you lives on in him...

From deep down inside, from my little heart, from across the Atlantic, I wish the baby  much strength, love and good health as he takes his first breaths of air...

I wish him much wisdom, kindness and compassion as he grows and learns the ways of the world...

I wish him much happiness, innocence and beauty, and hope that he will always be true to himself and to others around him. And I wish my sister-in-law and my brother much patience and wisdom as they begin their parenthood, and hope they will forever to provide the child with warmth, affection, and invaluable lessons to prepare him for the big wide world.

Happy birthday, my dear little nephew... happy birthday!