-2014-: Premature

2014 was the year the world discovered the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, the year a missing Malaysian plane became a ghost, the year we all started swiping right. But for me, 2014 was the year I learned that love doesn't wait for the due date.

She turns ten this year. She runs cross-country. She yells at her brother. And sometimes, when she sleeps, I still count her breaths. Old habits from a year that taught me the only truth I know: the ones who arrive too early are often the ones who teach you how to hold on. premature -2014-

For 47 days, I learned the vocabulary of alarms. Bradycardia. Apnea. Desat. I learned that a baby can wear a diaper the size of a Post-it note. I learned that hope is a tiny, stubborn thing—a flutter of an eyelid, a pinkening toe, a nurse’s slight nod when she checks the monitor. 2014 was the year the world discovered the