The day Ana was born was a day to remember. Celebration music was playing when her mom held her in her arms for the first time. And her dad was the happiest man on earth. Their long-awaited baby has arrived and fulfilled the void in their hearts. They have been waiting for her for such a long time, cherishing this space in their hearts for all this time. Often, as they were lying in bed unable to sleep till late night, they wondered how would she be: playful, kind, talkative or shy.
And finally, she arrived. She was even a bit early. Soon after she was born, I met her father, who described her as being a sweet and good baby.
We agreed to meet when Ana was 18 days old. All the days leading to this, Ana slept calmly before and after being fed and changed, but this day was different.
Its beginning was unusual, uncanny. As I stepped into their home, Ana’s mother complained: “We didn’t sleep much the past night and she still doesn’t want to sleep.”
“Oh my, this will be interesting”, I thought to myself. My expectations of photographing a peaceful, sleeping baby vanished into the air like a puff of smoke.
But I had no choice but to confront Ana. It was a challenging task, because she didn’t close her eyes for three whole hours, as if she knew something unusual was going on.
Although mom and dad held her in their arms, comforted her and smiled at her, she declined the pacifier and would demand being breastfed over and over again. Somehow we managed to take some photos, while laughing at spilled glasses of water and a jar of mango yogurt, which somehow wanted to avoid the lamp reflector and simply bounced on the floor. Dad diligently cleaned the mess while studying for his last exams at the university.
Right after Ana’s birth, an astrologer predicted she would be joining her parents for the purpose of irrevocably teaching them about love, whom to unselfishly give it and whom to help on their journey of achieving it.
I wish you luck on your journey dear Ana! And please save a fragment of your love for us as well…
