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 morena de 52 a

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