When I met you

Dear Maelynn and Maggie,
I saw both of you for the first time yesterday.

It was the most surreal thing I’ve ever experienced.

I’d seen pictures of you when y’all made your appearance while we were still on the road to Michigan, but being there with both of you and seeing you with my own eyes meant more to me than I ever thought it would.

Maggie, your Daddy took me and your grandpa to see you first.

You were still in an incubator, but when we got to you and said, “Hey, Maggie,” you opened your eyes and smiled.

The papers they gave your Mama and Daddy said you didn’t really know how to smile yet so I don’t know if it was a smile or if something else was going on, but it looked like a smile to me.

It was beautiful.

Maelynn, we got to see you next.

You were in a different room to make sure you stayed healthy and happy for the first couple of days.

When we got to you a nurse was with you.

She explained how you were and told us you were about to get a new bed to move to the other room next to Maggie.

She asked your Daddy if he’d held you yet. He hadn’t, because the doctors and nurses had to keep a close eye on you, but she told him he could hold you while they brought you a new bed and he jumped at the chance.

Until then, I’d never seen a daddy hold his daughter for the first time.

What a special moment it is.

You grabbed his finger with all of yours, and you must have squeezed pretty tight.

He said you’re really strong, but we all already knew you were.

Your Mama got to see and hold both of you for the first time last night after I left.

Your Daddy took pictures of her holding and talking to both of you.

I’d been waiting all day for both of you to meet her. She’d been working hard to feed both of you and get strong enough to go see you so I was pretty happy to see she did.

I am so proud of her. It made me happy to see what a great mama she was the whole time we were waiting for you girls to grow, but now you’ve arrived and she’s done even better.

It makes me happy to know you two have the Mama and Daddy you have.

I know they love you more than life itself, and I know they always will.

I also know you two are very special.

Right now, I’m sitting in the lounge at the hospital. I was by myself, but I just heard another mama and a two little girls come in.

I heard them talking, and I hear one of them laughing right now. A little girl came over and smiled at me.

I waved, and I thought about how soon you two will be waving, laughing and talking.

I can’t wait, but right now I’m sitting here in this blue, polka-dotted chair trying to soak up these moments when you both are new to the world and the world is new to both of you.

It’s hard for me to make sense of how you can look so fragile and be so strong at the same time.

I can’t believe how tiny you both are.

My mama told me you are both bigger than I was when I was born so I know you two will grow, talk and wave soon enough.

I know God has some special things in store for both of you during the rest of your lives.

I’ve sat at the hospital and thought a lot about who you both will be, but right now I’m more than happy to love you while you’re little.

Love,