Ethereal
e-the-re-al: delicate; heavenly There was a moment when I was a very young mother. I was sitting on our long couch, my newborn son in my arms as my oldest toddled over my legs, begging for the attention he’d so recently lost. As I sat there, I got a flash, a picture, a vision perhaps. It was of me surrounded by boys. This knowledge didn’t upset me, on the contrary it was comforting. I saw what my future held and knew that this is what I would do. Eighteen months later, I lay on a bed in the doctor’s office, a paper sheet crinkling with each movement of my rapidly growing body. The room was dim and the tech moved her magic wand over my slick and slimy belly. She pointed out fingers and toes and I watched the little heart as it fluttered. “Do you want to know the sex?” she asked. Sure, though I thought I already knew. Then she said the words that would change my life in so many ways. “It’s a girl.” Four months after that, we were i...