Pumpkins

I know I'm late to the Halloween game - but bear with me. Last year at this time we were matched with a con woman, gestating a very possibly imaginary baby, and on October 30th we carved a pumpkin for that baby. I carved star, and when we lit it, the flame guttered out, which as omens go, is not a great one.

We then carved a tiny heart into the back of the pumpkin, trying to get some more oxygen to the candle, and the flame stayed lit, and cast a heart shaped light onto the brickwork of the house.

On November 1st, we discovered that we had been conned, and pick up the shattered little bits of our hearts for the 5th time in 5 years, and moved on. I seriously considered throwing in the towel, another child was clearly not in our future, and I didn't know if I could really bear it.

What I didn't know then, is that three weeks later our daughter would be born. That at that very moment, curled up snug in her first mother's belly, was a baby girl, almost ready to greet the world.

Fast forward to October 30, 2013:

There are four pumpkins on our porch, and the little kitty pumpkin was carved on behalf of our daughter, who really quite adores cats. She signs "kitty" enthusiastically whenever she sees one, and has even learned how to pet our cat Billy, very very gently. She is real, she is here, and in less than three weeks, she will turn one.

What a wild and beautiful ride.