• You were Monday’s child
• Born fair of face.
• As you grew
• I hoped you’d find that special place
• Where one day you’d arrive.

• A place unknown even to you,
• Hidden from a child’s view,
• Alien until we’ve grown and
• Forged a pathway of our own

• Still, every moment time passed by,
• As I shared your smile
• Or dried your eye,
• I thanked God you were alive.

• Now grown,
• A mother, too,
• Guiding the life of another,
• Who will one day
• (A day all too soon)
• Cast aside her frail cocoon
• To become a butterfly.

• You’ll marvel at the mystery
• Of just how quick it came to be.
• You’ll reach out for her
• As she lets go.
• In the bittersweet
• You’ll know why,
• Even as you celebrate today,
• Your mother cries.

One of my favorite all-time movie quotes comes from The Firm when Abby (Jeanne Tripplehorn) tells Mitch (Tom Cruise) that she has loved him all her life… even before she ever met him. That’s the way I feel about my daughter, Nicki. From the time I was a child, I dreamed of having a daughter.

My daughter’s birth was a difficult one. The doctor had to use forceps, which use resulted in fracturing her skull in three places. To correct the fractures, Nicki had to have a cranioplasty when she was just 13 weeks old. But, that’s a different story and one that maybe someday I’ll tell on Older Space, but not today. This poem was written while she was in the hospital. It is actually a lullaby that I composed and sang to her as I sat at her hospital bedside.

• Nicki, Nicki,
• Where are you going?
• Nicki, Nicki,
• What do you say?
• Growing stronger.
• Life is a miracle.
• A beautiful happening
• Everyday.

• So close those big brown eyes and sleep.
• Your daydreams you must keep
• For another day
• Because you need your rest
• To do your best
• To pass the test of time

• My darling Nicki, Nicki,
• Where are you going?
• Nicki, Nicki,
• What do you say?
• Growing stronger,
• Life is a miracle.
• A beautiful happening.
• Everyday.
• You’re a beautiful happening
• Everyday.

• Nicki, Nicki,
• Good night.

• It would be so easy to say,
• “I don’t care if you leave it there.
• It doesn’t matter if it should lay
• In the way for one more day.”
• But later on, it’s you, my child
• Who would have the higher price to pay.

• It would be so easy to say,
• “I don’t care if you swear.
• You hear it, these days, everywhere.
• A word’s just a word anyway.”
• But later on, it’s you, my child
• Who would have the higher price to pay.

• It would be so easy to say,
• “I don’t care if you steal.
• Everyone does it; I know how you feel.
• Rules were made to be broken, not to obey.”
• But later on, it’s you, my child
• Who would have the higher price to pay.

• It would be so easy to say,
• “I don’t care what you do.
• It’s your life, it’s up to you!”
• But you might be a parent someday
• And later on, it’s you, my child
• Who would have the higher price to pay.