Teddy,

You entered a different world than we had planned
A year of gut punches and divine lessons we weren’t ready for
But the first bookend in this section of life’s volumed chronology
Will always be your joyous arrival

As tiny and soft as a stuffed bear that bears your name
And as beautiful as an angelic chorus that we can’t stop singing
You are the marker and sign post of this year
An ever so needy declaration of love’s entanglement in flesh

As our hearts sang your hum with a backdrop of uncertainty and anxiety
The contrast revealed the transcendent 
Like a cosmic explanation point
You have reminded us of love’s victory, eternal and final

Your hawked and flowing hair
Your sky blue eyes, locked on your big brother
Your sweet-roll aroma, a trigger for paternal and maternal giggles
It’s all pure joy, a gift we cold never earn

May the God of endless parental love grant us the ability to hold it all
That we wouldn’t miss a minute of your light
A brightest star in this darkest night
The sweetest tastes in this bitterest of years

The other bookend is yet to be seen
But it doesn’t matter
We get to be yours
And you get to be ours