Twelve years ago today, I was working at Smart Inventions Inc, a company that sold products like the Smart Mop, Smart Nails, and the Smart Chopper via mail order and infomercials. As I busied myself taking orders for items that are marked up a minimum of 400%, I got a call saying Mona was in labor and at the hospital. Our baby was coming! Our baby was coming!
A few hours later, the second call came with all the details. Labor had been progressing nicely, but as the baby was getting ready to come down the canal he thought he'd stop and take a poop. Yep, when you gotta go, you gotta go, which of course led to an emergency c-section. The baby was named after his dad with whom he now shared a birthday with.
I remember calling Mona and she was so drugged out that she said, "I love you" at the end of the conversation which is something she never says to me. It's our running joke. So for her to say it, I can attest to those drugs being very powerful.
Seven weeks later, I got to hold my precious baby that I had christened Mijo in my arms. He looked like he did in his ultra-sound picture, minus the thumb sucking. He was tiny and cute and the most beautiful thing in the world. He stole my heart with those brown eyes of his.
He taught me so much- - how to be selfless, how first grandchildren/nephews clean up, how to shop first in the children's department then the toy department and if there's any money left then go to the department you really needed to go to. He taught me how to love a newborn with all your heart.
My heart still pitter patters when I think of the first time he said, "I love you, Auntie Yash," independently. I did then and still do look forward to the Christmases and summers when I can leave work and drive to his granny's house, talk to him, spend time with him, and eat dinner with him.
For a while there we hit a rough patch, when he decided he couldn't say "I love you" back when we talked on the phone. But I kept at it, until it returned.
I love this boy who is slowly leaving his boyhood behind. I remember when a toy magazine was my oyster to pick out any pearls aka toys that I wanted and he would love them. Now my Christmas lists consists mostly of video games and books related to video games.
Was it really only three months ago that he picked me up? My Mijo picked me up. Granted, it was only for a few seconds, but still. What happened to the baby I use to toss in the air and catch? Sometimes time moves too swiftly, but I do look forward to the man he will become. I utterly adore my Mijo.
Happy Twelfth Birthday to my Mijito! My Mijo! I love you! I pray you have the best birthday yet.
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