January's Miracle: +1

The first in a series of miraculous events I will chronicle throughout 2009 to highlight the positive occurrences that have taken place in my life.


On a cold January morning, I received the call. I had been awaiting it for five days, yet somehow it caught me unawares. I heard my mother's voice on the other end of the line, "He is here". Even though I had known for several months that he would be arriving and despite the fact that I wasn't there to witness his grand entrance, her announcement brought tears to my eyes. My family is now +1. In January, our little miracle arrived in the form of my sister's first child, a bouncing baby boy.

My sister and I were born 22 months apart. It has always been very important to me to point out that she isn't quite two years older than I am. 'One year and ten months' I used to scream whenever she or anyone else tried to pull the seniority card. Being that close in age has positive and negative aspects, but the one thing that remains true good or bad is that we take life's turns at roughly the same time. Heading off to school, becoming a teenager, first kiss, first boyfriend - these things have all happened in such a way that I felt more than able to relate. What I am trying to say, and evidently not doing a very good job of, is that I can relate to most things that have happened in her life. The first major step she took that I have yet to was marriage, but somehow that didn't feel alien. Having been in love, I could obviously relate. Not to the actual act itself, but to the idea that it is possible to want to spend the rest of your life with one person.

With this most recent jump however, she is beyond my reach. She carried an entire other person for 9 months and pushed him out into the world. I cannot even begin to fathom the awe she must have felt when he was handed to her. To see herself, my brother-in-law and so many earlier generations of our family all mixed together in the features of one tiny infant is nothing short of astonishing. I have only been able to see him via the harsh medium of mega-pixels, yet somehow I feel the tug on my heart. I had no hand in creating this child, that was between my sister, her husband and God. Yet somehow I feel as though a piece of him belongs to me. I look at a picture of him and I feel as though we are communicating. Silent secrets that only he and I know or understand. My nephew. I am in love and I haven't even met him yet.

My Annus Mirabilis

Is it too late to say Happy New Year? Probably, but when have rules or conventions ever deterred me? Happy New Year all. This time last year I laid out a series of intentions/resolutions that I intended to keep in 2008. Half of the things listed were tangible goals, the other half intangible. I will say that I tried valiantly to keep them, and even succeeded in a few areas - the intangibles were surprisingly easier than the tangibles - but not all. I had considered doing a recap/roundup of my achievements, near misses and complete failures, but decided against it. December would have been the right time to reflect on the year gone by; to do so now is counter-productive.

This year I am taking a new approach. Instead of listing my goals, this year I have a mission statement: 2009 is my annus mirabilis. It is my year of wonders, my year of miracles. It sounds very wishy-washy, but I want to focus on highlighting the good things that come my way in 2009, and so to do that effectively, each month I will highlight one event that I am grateful for. A miracle per month. It could be something small, it could be something very significant, either way, you will be reading about a multitude of things that I am grateful for this year.

January's miracle has already happened and while I haven't found the words to do it justice yet, I am searching when I find them you will read about it. Happy 2009.