To C.A

The journey from meeting your daughter to coming full circle in the path of parenthood.

To C.A

We met as strangers

You just one year out of the womb

Me just one year out of self-indulgence

We grew together

Learning, adapting

Coming to understanding

Sleep, blissful sleep

A weight on my chest

A snore in my ear

Laying down

A shirt wet from drool

Was like the comfort of a warm body of water

Many years in-between

I did my best to hold you up

You did the same

An endless optimism

A smile that cannot be described

Eyes that draw you in

A window into a happy soul

As time went on

When you became to mature for naps

The complex relationship

Between what was and what must be

Stared at both of us

Looking back and forth

My world became dark

Your star shined brighter and brighter

Me downward

You upward

I would not change it if I could

I never the role model I should have been

You the role model I wish I was

To see that sparkle of life

The juxtaposition of roles

The tension of opposites

Broke the thread that binds

Torn

Each

But some fabrics can be mended

With just a smile

And a glimmer in an eye

I will never know

If it saved just one or more

That light

Like a constellation of hope

That radiates from the center of you

Has become my North Star