Calliope Free, One Year

Hey I was at a High School in Lansdale this morning to administer a survey to 12th graders. Mrs. Rauch's room was filled with all types of great books including A. Lamont's Bird By Bird. As 1st period was winding down I found myself flipping through the book and reading this passage....
"This is one of my favorite jokes because the character is so familiar to me. She is probably familiar to a lot of people you know. Maybe she is not ready for the deadness to be killed, or maybe, against all odds, she is. Maybe you can give her something from deep within to find or do or fight for that will break the trance for her. You'll have to find this first within you, though. And then you'll have it to give away. This woman may get to wake up.. And then she will have something to give, a song to sing. Maybe it won't be a song exactly, but maybe just a little tune, a CALLIOPE tune, the tune of survival."
Thank you for giving me something to smile about today! It truly made what could have been a bleak heavy day bearable and less dark.
Cheers, Jane

Above is an email from last Spring. This is an example of the response that our girl's name brings and has brought all her life. All 366 days of it!

She had a marvelous birthday. I put her in this little white fleece dress with fur around the collar and sleeves. I taught Sunday School for the boys but she was on my mind-- I taught from 1 Samuel, David and Goliath's story. This little person taking things on with such potency and might. After Church, we spent the afternoon at the Academy of Natural Sciences. Geoff took me there in college to look at the butterflies. We wanted to choose an activity that would suit her. I pictured her walking through the warm mist in awe of all the fluttering beauties. It ended up being too crowded for her to really toddle but Geoff held her as she reached up waving and calling to all the butterflies. She shrieked and giggled. It was joyful. The evening was spent with a few neighborhood buds. It was so fun to catch up and to imagine that it had been a year ago that she came into our life. A few things people wished for her--that she would grow up to be healthy and chubby (her brothers), that she would have the courage to grow up and be exactly who she wants to be, that her life would be long and full of laughter.

My favorite part of her birthday, though, was after she was asleep. Our dear friend who photographed Calliope's birth sat with me and looked at the discs of photos. Until that night, I had not done this. All my vanity, my weird body issues, my mistrust of cameras, I was able to set aside. I am so glad I did! Aside from seeing how tough I was in labor, how incredible Geoff is in labor, was how much I love our house and how much love Calliope was born into. I had not seen the faces of her sibs until looking at those photos. I had not seen my sister's tender hand on my shoulder. I had not seen the anticipation on my friends' faces. They were so quiet, I had almost forgotten they had been there. The most amazing discovery was to see visually that I was a vessel for our babies. She so clearly came through me. To the point that it wasn't really about me at all. How exceptionally beautiful. I had not seen this.