Today is the birthday of Mother. My thoughts wander backward in time… I am wrapped with her tenderness, the smell of her love; Reminded of her soft corners, how easily my body cradled within hers. Her abundance of care for me and my sisters, we thought common. Now I know the truth of my blessing: How she bravely tread into new experiences to be with us; How she waited so we could shine; How she fed us with the very blood of her heart.

In order to repair my wounded finger, they had to have my arm. When I woke, I didn’t initially notice that my arm was missing. It looked normal by my side, lying on the blue, foam prop. Only when I was home in bed did I understand the full extent of its vacancy: I rolled over but my arm didn’t follow. Hopelessly, it flopped down by my side, dead to touch and neural clues, I realized The Arm no longer belonged to me. Throughout that night I kept watch, to see if my arm had com