When my best friend of nearly two decades told me she was expecting, I was overwhelmed with emotions – many good, but not all of them. My personal experience with babies was nonexistent, and this would be the first time a close friend of mine had ever had a child. I found myself asking a lot of questions: what would it be like? How would Rachel’s life change, having a child? I even found myself selfishly pondering: would our relationship deteriorate? What would this mean for the future?
Though my anxieties were overwhelming (as they usually are, with just about everything), all of my fears were completely unfounded. My nephew Wesley Owen was born on November 29, 2012 and was beautiful from the moment he arrived. How someone so completely unexpected can brighten up so many peoples’ lives in such an instant, I will never understand. But I’m so happy he arrived when he did. I have an amazing nephew. I have an amazing sister. We’re all so extremely lucky.
One evening, when Rachel stepped out of the room, her mother was holding Wesley, staring at him lovingly. I leaned in and said “Is Rachel doing as well as she appears to be?” Her mother beamed at me and said, “Motherhood becomes her.” As the months have gone on, that statement grows more and more true every day.
I am absolutely amazed by everything he does. And, not that I’m biased, but he is the most beautiful baby I have ever seen.
