HOW I WILL LOVE YOU

Our daughters, Beret and Anna, have become lovely women by the love of God and the gentle wisdom of their mother. February 17th is the anniversary of Anna's Arrival Day; March 22nd is Beret's Birthday. I wrote this many years ago for any parent preparing for the arrival of a child by birth or adoption. But, really, I wrote it for Beret and Anna.

HOW I WILL LOVE YOU

You will come through the miracle passage of birth

From somewhere in heaven to right here on earth –

Right here, where this family is waiting to start;

Right here – to these arms and this place in this heart.

Or maybe your journey will detour around

Till your own private angel-jet touches the ground,

And there I’ll be waiting to see who we’ll be,

And I’ll adopt you – and you’ll adopt me!

And how I will love you! When you are brand new!

When you are first finding out how to be you!

Of course you’ll be beautiful, handsome, and smart –

But that’s not the reason love grows in the heart.

You won’t have to earn it or prove it to me;

That’s just the way love is – love comes for free.

Free – but not easy – not every day;

Sometimes I won’t know just what I should say

When you are angry or tired or wild.

It’s then I will love you…

It’s then I will love you…

It’s then I will love you…

 Because you’re my child!

And every day you will grow just a bit,

And every day some more clothes will not fit.

All of that growing will take lots of food,

And of course it is my job to make sure it’s good!

And so we’ll have breakfasts and banquets and snacks,

And picnics with fortunate ants on our tracks.

But tables are more than just places to eat –

The family table is where you will meet…

…Uncles and aunties and grandmas and pas

And dozens of cousins who’ll love you because –  

Because you are family – because you are you,

And since they’re all family – you’ll love them too!

And how we will love you – as we watch you grow,

As you start to learn all of the things you will know.

And we’ll learn together! We’ll read lots of books;

You’ll soon know how all of the alphabet looks,

And how all those a’s  b’s  c’s and d’s sound.

Oh, how the words will go round and around!

Words in your eyes and words in your mouth,

Words flying east and west, words north and south.

Some words we’ll read in short stories and long,

Some words we’ll warble together – in song.

And how I will love you – as you sit in my lap

And we sing lullabies – till we both take a nap!

Then after our nap we will go out and play

Making up games for the rest of the day.

We’ll choo-choo with trains as we watch them go by,

We’ll stretch like the trees as we reach for the sky.

Some day, like the big kids, you’ll go off to school;

You’ll learn the latest grammatical rule.

Some day, but not yet. I’m glad that you’ll be

Still – for a while – right here with me.

And how I will love you when day turns to night,

And you hug your best blanket as we turn off the light.

Then I’ll sit by your bed and I’ll sing you to sleep,

Or I’ll try – ‘cause your plan will be that you’ll keep

Awake all night long and sleep all the next day

So the next night, again, you’ll be ready to play!

But finally you’ll fall asleep under a book;

I’ll turn at the door and I’ll sneak just a look.

You’ll be sweetly asleep, another day done,

And when you wake up you will be twenty-one!

I’ll think back and remember the first day you came,

And I’ll see that… you’re bigger! But, really, the same.

You’ll still be the one I loved right from the start –

All grown up! But always the child of my heart.  

And how I will love you …

I set out to write this as "How we will love you," but I wasn't smart enough to make the rhyme and the flow work that way.

Plus, I wanted it to speak for a single parent, too. But, for me, the "I' should be read to include both Caryl and me. Of course

Beret and Anna would agree.

(c) Richard Jorgensen