Blueberry Girl

August 29th, 2012 by Potato

When we told Wayfare’s parents we were expecting, the fetus was roughly the size of a blueberry. The name stuck.

When the ultrasound later told us we were going to have a baby girl, Wayfare ran out and bought a half dozen copies of Blueberry Girl by Neil Gaiman. Wrapping one up and placing it into the hands of our parents was our way of sharing the news: Blueberry is a girl.

When she started kicking around inside Wayfare and we wanted her to know her daddy’s voice, when it was bedtime and everybody needed to settle down to sleep, I read Blueberry Girl to them both.

When the delivery was complicated and she came out as blue as her namesake and the doctors were working on her, Wayfare was whispering. The words weren’t for me, she was away in some other place. If we were religious, I would have said it was a prayer… and in a way it was. She told me later: she was reciting Blueberry Girl.

To the ladies of light, darkness and never-you-mind, the ladies of grace, favour and merciful night, and those ladies of paradox, measure, and ladies of shadows that fall: thank you for our Blueberry.

To Neil Gaiman, thank you for the lovely words.

Our blueberry girl. Click to embiggen.

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