28th Oct 2012

8 years ago, I rushed up the stairs of the nursing home where my mom had spent the day. There I found my grandparents sitting together. I sat across from them. We looked at each other with anxious, half-smiling faces. We heard a baby cry. I nearly jumped. My grandparents said it's a boy. At the age of 10, when all I wanted was a little baby sister, I blatantly disagreed. Just then, the doctor emerged from the delivery room. His sleeves rolled up beyond his elbows and his pants rolled up to his knees. He held his shoes in one hand. He looked at me and said, "Congratulations, it's a girl." I was over the moon! Not only because I had a sister, but because my prediction was correct. With ants in my pants, I tried to stay seated in the waiting room. A few moments later, the nurse emerged with a big flat tub. Inside was my sister. She whizzed past us into the nursery to get her warm. I got just a fleeting glance of her. A small, pink lump with short limbs sticking out and a head full of hair. Next to leave the delivery room was our mother. She was being wheeled back into her room on a bed. She looked tired and terribly worn out. I followed her into the room and sat on the spare bed, looking around me at all the people passing by, doing things. No one noticed me sitting there, but that didn't matter: I had a new sister.
The nurse walked in holding the baby. She walked over to our mom to hand the baby over to her. But in her weak state, she told the nurse to give the baby to me first. I was touched. I had expressed a desire to be the first to hold her long before she was born. The nurse walked up to me with very suspicious eyes. She curtly told me to sit up straight, back to the wall with my legs crossed. Then she gently placed her in my arms and stood over me, watching keenly. I took no notice of the nurse. In my arms was an incredibly tiny baby. She had a wrinkled up, chubby face, slightly closed but big eyes, lots of very soft, short hair on her head and little red hands. Her small hands and little stubby fingers were so cute and felt so sweet in my hand. I didn't get to hold her for long, but I loved those few moments. Holding a cute, warm bundle that filled up my arms completely. That was the start of a whole new life for me; one with a sibling that I waited a long time for.

Today, I don't remember what life used to be like before this hyperactive, monkey-ish, humorous, witty, silly sister of mine was born. But I can't imagine life without her now either.
Happy birthday Ilina!