Dear Hunter, I’ve been mulling over what will go in this letter to you – what I will inscribe as formal recollection of your life while you were inside me, which was, of course, the only life on earth that you knew. I wonder what it must have been like for you. Did you know you were a part of me? Did you sense happiness when our family laughed together, anxiety when I was yelling at Gwen on the basketball court from my seat in the bleachers? Did you feel adventure at the change of attitude when we flew to Chile and did you note the change in speech sounds when I spoke Spanish at least half the time during that week? Did you have favorite foods? Did your tummy seem particularly satisfied after I ate a big bowl of ice cream? I hope you’ll answer all of these curiosities for me someday. I don’t recall the first time I felt you move, but it was somewhere in the fifth month. One night I was watching TV in bed and I had an excruciating electrical pain that shot on the side of my belly. I imagined that you had tripped over a nerve or something. Later in child birth classes, I learned it was a round ligament stretching – not caused by any movement on your part.
16