Before I Met You

Before I met you, I loved you...

...the words I'm sure every mother hears in her heart the first time she holds her baby--the baby she already knows and loves--in her arms.

This is from the blog I wrote for my daughter, Meagan, on her birthday in 2008...

I hope that some day you will know what it's like to hold a newborn child that has been, very intimately, a part of you for nine whole months. I hope that you will then be able to describe -- better than I have ever been able to -- what that feels like. I know the word for it is Love. But it's such a strange and special love. I hope, my precious daughter, that you will have the same love for a child of your own some day. (Ok -- that's all about me becoming a grandma. But really -- I want it for you, too!)

My granddaughter, Charlotte, was born in January of 2010. In December of that year, I wrote this in Meagan's blog...

Meagan has said things like, "I just can't believe how much I love her," to which I reply, "So now you know how much I love you." It's true, and I can prove it; I wrote it in the journals that I kept for Meagan when she was a baby. I once wrote about holding her for hours, just watching her sleep. I had started crying because the love I felt for her was so overwhelming. (I came across that entry shortly after Meagan had told me the same thing about holding Charlie while she slept.)

If I were to make a list of all the things that I adore about Meagan, you wouldn't have time to read it. In some ways, she's like me, and in many ways she's not. But I know that the love she feels for her daughter lets her know the power of the love I have for her. That makes me happy.

I love you, Meagan Day Fischer Kopp. I hope you have a wonderful birthday!