New Eyes

"If you hope to raise baby spiritually or faithfully, the name Daniel may be..."  "That probably didn't work..." interjected Daniel with a mischevous smile as he got out of the car. The interrupted phrase was part of a spiel for the name "Daniel:" Daniel is a baby boy name of Hebrew origin. Meaning "God is my judge," baby may be inspired by this phrase every day...  I had asked Daniel about the meaning of his friend's name. "It's just a name, like mine."  "Well, your name has a meaning related to God," I explained. He looked at me surprised and with suspicion. "Hey, Google what does the name Daniel mean?" Google's friendly female voice answered as stated above. But neither Daniel nor I expected to hear that choosing that name was a great idea if a mother wanted to raise her baby "spiritually." "That probably didn't work..." "Oh, I still have hope that the child who told me...

  Autorretrato   Se levanta entre semana a las seis y media a duras penas, porque no le queda de otra, porque se le va a hacer tarde. Se toma la hormona tiroidea como cada día con el estómago vacío y un poco de agua tibia. Se sienta en el rincón destinado a la oración. Intenta, pero le ganan el sueño, los pensamientos y los afanes. “Perdón, Señor”, dice adormilada. Por fin, abre la Biblia y lee un salmo: “Cuídame como a la niña de tus ojos, Protégeme bajo la sombra de tus alas”. Cierra los ojos de nuevo y repite el verso, en una oración apenas susurrada. El tiempo corre. Ni modo. Hay que interrumpir la calma: Se hace tarde y el chiquilín de 17 años sigue dormido. Asume, entonces, el papel de generala y comienza a darle órdenes: “Levántate, apúrate, tómate la medicina”. Lo regaña, pero da el brazo a torcer como casi cada día. Le prepara el desayuno, lo atiende, lo consiente. Así comienza el día esta mujer moren...

His concerned eyes were fixed on me for reassurance from the moment we were called in. He looked so small in the dentist's chair, in spite of it being a pediatric office. I stood by him throughout the visit. Once the check-up and cleaning were completed, his little hands explored the toys and trinkets the dental hygenist held in the prize box that day. He was only three years-old, and he had been brave.  We took the elevator down, and to Daniel's delight, we discovered there was a coffee shop on the bottom floor. After such a successful first visit to the dentist, I could not possibly deny him a treat. The coffee shop opened to pretty Centennial Lakes. We took a seat outside, and suddenly Daniel noticed the music coming out of a speaker hidden behind some plants. "Mami, ¿quieres bailar?" He stood up and took me by the hand. There, with a smiling couple as the audience, my little boy led me in a simple dance step right-to-left, left-to-right to the tune of some piece b...